Contract
by XNobodyXSomebodyX
Summary: Ventus is desperate, he feels like it's over, he would sell his soul to have a better life than this... Lucky for him, Vanitas happens to be interested in the soul market, particularly Ventus' soul... VanVen, lemon. SoRox later. (Currently being rewritten).
1. Sell Your Soul

_**I decided to rewrite this story. I'm sorry to anyone who really liked the way it was going before, but I was having a hard time continuing it because it felt like I was writing myself into a corner. I'm basically going to change the entire direction this story was headed in, I'm going to try and keep it simpler, and it will be more focused on the four main characters: Ventus, Vanitas, Sora and Roxas.**_

_**Anyways, the beginning at least will be the same, more or less. I've only made a few changes in these beginning chapters, most of them adding detail to areas that I think needed more attention. Either way, I hope you guys enjoy the new version just as much as the old.**_

* * *

Roxas, on average, fell down the stairs at least once a day.

He would walk into a door at least three times a day.

He would arrive late to class at least twice a day.

And get chased home by some ravenous dog and/or a bully about once a week.

Yeah, he was pretty unlucky, but whenever he felt bad, he would just look at his twin brother, because _Ventus_ was the _real_ unlucky one.

Roxas fell down the stairs this morning? Well, Ventus fell down them, up them, almost every time he got near them.

Roxas walked into another door? Well, Ventus once got a concussion from that, because he does that whenever there is a door around to walk into, if there is no door, then he walks into the wall.

Roxas got a demerit for being late to class? Ventus got five for being late and "arguing" with the teacher.

Oh, and Ventus is chased home every day, but he stopped seeing that as unlucky and more as a good form of exercise.

So, yeah, Roxas was unlucky, but Ventus was cursed. He could never catch a break anywhere he turned, the frustration with his own inability to simply live correctly was starting to make him lose his real meaning for life. And then he met _Sora._

Yeah, _Sora_. Who was he? The single most hot, friendly, funny, athletically gifted, clever, witty boy that Ventus had ever had the pleasure of meeting. It was love at first sight, he was positive that they were meant to be together—they would just balance each other out so well! Sora was so LUCKY. And Ventus was so UNLUCKY. What he wouldn't give to be as lucky as him. Or, actually, as lucky as his twin…

Roxas was a lot luckier than he thought, to have a guy like Sora completely in love with him…

But anyways, that was just another aspect of Ventus' life that he would have to deal with, the whole being in complete love with someone only to be smacked in the face with the fact that he finds your _twin_ a hell of a lot more attractive than you. Yep, okay, that's fine, it's fine, he's fine. You know, just fucking FINE.

Just…

Ventus grumbled under his breath as he finally slammed the front door shut behind him, listening to Professor Xemnas' chihuahua viciously attack the door (and the new paint job VENTUS would have to do all over again) after him. He just sighed though, already pretty thoroughly accustomed to this kind of abuse on his life. Instead, his thoughts were focused on his brother and his crush and their new budding romance.

You know, the one that made him want to hang himself whenever he thinks about them kissing…

Yeah, that one.

Just because he knew about them, just because he loved both of them, just because he wanted them both to be happy… It didn't mean that he would just accept his unhappiness. That whole "their happiness is enough for me" shit… What was the point of accepting it as simply as that? Did it make him a bad person because he desired his own happiness over theirs?

… Probably.

He dropped his bag to the floor, leaving his converse on until he would get to his room, because the last time he tried taking them off by the door, he realized his balance was shit and nearly broke his skull when he hit his head against a table by the door. So he slowly took the stairs, turning his attention to each step, remembering, thankfully, this time that there was still a worn spot on the fifth step that was particularly slick. When he made it up to his bedroom door without any harm coming to him at all, he thought for sure that if there was a God, then He had suddenly turned around to bless him.

Then he opened the door, and he knew that if there was a God, then He was definitely just fucking with him.

The state of shock one is put in when seeing the person they had been completely in love with for the past year or so all over their twin brother is not something to be described in words. He wasn't in denial, he knew about their relationship and knew that this would probably happen… But knowing it would happen didn't make it easier.

The best description that can be provided for it is that you feel something close to excitement and nausea at the same time. Like your favorite celebrity coming out to greet you, and that excitement you would feel, then they pull out a gun and point it at your head, and the absolute cold terror that would cause your stomach to curdle. Because when he saw Roxas under Sora, saw their lips locked, it was like seeing his dream happening right in front of him for just a moment, like seeing himself there instead of Roxas, seeing what he would only dream of having… Then having the reminder that this wasn't him, that would never be him, he would never have that.

He felt short of breath, and sick, and kind of dizzy… Actually really dizzy. But hell, he didn't really care about that right now, maybe if Roxas didn't stop whoring his lips off to Sora, Ventus really will pass out from shock and heartbreak, and Sora will forget Roxas to come to his rescue… He doubted that though, especially since Roxas seemed to be trying to push Sora off, but Sora was the one clinging to him and kissing him.

Ventus was pretty sure he was going to be sick…

He didn't wait for any kind of great Sora rescue, he wasn't dumb, just unlucky, and he knew when he didn't have a chance. From the way Sora had been all over Roxas, it was pretty obvious that if he did pass-out, then Roxas was more likely to notice the sound of his body hitting the floor than Sora.

It wasn't the smartest move in the world, he knew it wasn't, but he didn't care at the moment. He turned around blindly, darted down the stairs (fell down them, actually), hit himself on the forehead with the door before shoving out onto the street. He ran across the street, down an alley, down another alley, and down a few streets, and a few more alleys, and basically just ran until his lungs were about to collapse on themselves and his legs were burning from pain. Over and over in his head, all he could think about was the sight of the two, just completely oblivious to him, completely consumed in their own world, his brother with a boyfriend, that boyfriend the only guy Ventus had ever wanted so bad…

It was dark, but he was under one of the street lamps, so it was as good a time as any other to finally let his stomach greet the outside world. Brushing the hair from his sweat-soaked forehead, his eyes seemed to be vibrating as he stared at the concrete wall he was against. Taking a few deep breaths, he trembled a bit as his stomach twisted and then settled.

He saw the small gang of tough looking guys walking down the street, he knew he should probably move and start running. Problem was, he didn't really care at the moment, they could beat the shit out of him, but he wasn't sure he would actually feel it, they could kill him and throw his body in a dumpster, but he wasn't sure that he wouldn't just feel relief.

How many times had he thought of suicide? At least once a week? He would never have the balls to off himself though, just another unlucky thing about him. This was basically suicide though, letting himself sit there, even after the guys noticed him, after they started heading in his direction, and he just sat there, wondering, kind of hoping, that one of them would pull out a knife or gun. The closer they got though… The louder their steps became, echoing off the walls, holding the deep threat that only being approached at night could hold, the faster his heart hit his ribs, the more afraid he became, the more he realized he really **did not **want to die.

Or rather, he wanted this to end, all of this, everything, his life, his curse, all of it. But he **did not** want to go through this. He did not want to die painfully, he wanted it to end, but he did not want to experience the end.

He couldn't even accept death, his curse prevented even this?

He couldn't move though, he was too scared, his vision was swimming, everything was shaking. Anything, he would do anything for this to end, give anything, anything at all to not have to have it end this way. Whatever he had… his money, his life, his soul, whatever was needed.

They reached him, and he looked up at the tall redhead before him, with the acidic green eyes and some dumb looking upside down triangle tattoos on his face…

"Hey, you need help kid?"

Ventus blinked up at him, and gasped as his knees suddenly and finally gave out. One of the guys grabbed his arm, gently lowering him to the ground. One was muscled with brunette hair and intense blue eyes, and the other with long silver hair and aquatic green eyes, both looking at him with some level of concern, as the first one, the red head, continued to watch him with a frown. He found the only thing he could say was, "You're not gonna kill me?"

The redhead's eyebrows jumped up, "What the fuck? Hell no!"

He stared at the redhead for another minute or two, began to stand on weak knees, and started to walk away, ignoring their questions as they drifted into the background.

Fucking mother fucker fuck. Scared for no reason, once again, getting worked up for nothing… It figures he would run into the only gang members in this city that were good concerned citizens…

He stumbled over a stray brick on the sidewalk, tripping onto the ground, a sharp pain running up his side as he gasped and felt his eyes go wide. He groaned in pain, the sharp digging pain scrapping against something inside him, causing a thousand small stabs to race across his nerves. It was until he rolled and reached over with his other hand that he realized a shard of glass had managed to stab him in his fall, managed to get in between his ribs, and probably stab something vital inside him.

The irony was literally killing him.

He coughed, flecks of blood being splattered across the asphalt, pain racing through every limb in his body. So he was going to die… This was… Less scary than he thought it would be…

Roxas was going to cry… It made sense, for him to think about his only family as he died… He just wished that he didn't have to, because even as his body began to go numb, and his sight turned to black, and the air began to turn cold… He never would regret anything more.

It was then that he had opened his eyes up a crack, just to lock with a melted golden gaze across from him. He wanted to jump, act shocked or surprised that someone was there and just watching him die, but couldn't bring up the emotions right now. To tell the truth, he knew he should feel that way, he did, but he didn't feel that way, he just didn't. So he continued to lie there, watching the boy across from him watch him intently.

Eventually, the black-haired boy moved, reaching out to him to brush his fingers against the injury. Ventus had been expecting pain from the touch, but didn't feel anything instead. He was dying; relief of pain was something he would be thankful for. Suddenly, the person grabbed the shard and tugged it out, making Ventus' eyes pull wide, his hand jumping up to hold his injury.

It was gone.

Ventus felt his clothing, felt the blood that had been staining his white shirt in its royally passionate color, but there was no stab wound, no injury at all. The first thing he thought was that maybe he was already dead, and this boy was actually an angel or something. But that seemed highly implausible to him, mostly because he felt the same, everything looked the same, he wasn't floating, and this would be one shitty heaven if this was it.

"I'm Vanitas, you called me?"

He turned his attention back to the boy in front of him suddenly, his eyes widening, "E-Excuse me?"

Vanitas' eyebrows furrowed together in quick annoyance, "Dumbass mortals never know what the hell they make such bold statements… Just before, back there, something about selling your soul for a reason that isn't so concerning to me. Did you or did you not want to sell your soul?" He leaned in close, eyes narrowed in annoyance as the blonde jumped back in surprise, yelping as he winced and brought his palms up seeing them all scratched up from small shards of green glass.

A beer bottle… he had been dying because of a broken beer bottle. With the world spinning around him, it was these things that began to seem the most important.

Vanitas rolled his eyes, but Ventus ignored it, "Wait… You heard that? What does that have to do with you? And how did you save me?"

"Wow, yeah, can we just skip to the point? I'm sick of having to explain this all the time. Basically, I'm a demon, I'm in the soul buying business, heard you were putting yourself on the market, decided to have a look see," The melted gold eyes shimmered as they traveled the length of Ventus' body, sprawled out in front of him on the asphalt, cradling his hurt and bloodied hands, "So far, what I see doesn't look too bad. What's the price?"

Ventus just continued to blink, "Wait… What?"

Vanitas huffed loudly, collapsing back to lie on the ground, "Jesus fucking Christ kid, were you dropped on your head as a baby? Let's go over it again, I'm a demon, you got that? I'm interested in buying the soul that you offered, remember? So just name your price, I'll do what you want in exchange for your soul for all of eternity."

Ventus didn't answer, just stared at him still, Vanitas staring back at him straight on, making a shiver run down the blonde's spine, "Are you high?"

The demon had never been more aggravated in his life.

"This is why I hate actually talking to you humans… Okay, alright, whatever. Obviously, you're just slow, _really_ slow. So, look, I'll give you until tomorrow night to come up with a price, be alone in your room that night, and I will come to you, we'll make a deal, and I'll solve all of your problems. Just, please remember kid, don't think this is a joke. We're talking seriously here, this is your soul for all of eternity, I will own you forever, so don't waste it on something like Blitzball tickets."

Suddenly, the other boy was in front of him, his warm hands wrapped around Ventus', and then black tendrils of smoke curled around the figure from nowhere, engulfing him. It cleared to show he was gone, leaving Ventus to continue sitting there, in the dark, alone, cold… until the police car picked him up for loitering in a non-loitering alley.

Lying back in his bed, his brother was already sleeping across the room from him, making him sigh and roll onto his side away from him.

Why did things have to go this way, why did he have to be so unlucky, couldn't he, at least once, get something that he wanted, have something that couldn't be ruined? Couldn't he at least fully resent those that made his life difficult? Was he truly doomed to live like this for the rest of his life, tortured like this… It wasn't fair. Why him?

Sure, Roxas was pretty unlucky too, but nowhere near as unlucky as Ventus, and either way, he still seemed to get the things he wanted in the end. Like friends, good grades, Sora… Of course Sora would like him, be more attracted to him, because even though they look identical, Roxas is better in that aspect…

Roxas was more than that though… He was a genuinely good person, he was his brother, he was the only person who could relate to him in even the slightest… Even when he was consumed with jealousy and hatred for him, he still loved his brother.

He squeezed his eyes shut, begging himself to not cry again tonight, he was so sick of it, so sick of being caught here, of being unable to get what he wanted, of being unable to even try to get what he wanted, of always failing at everything so he wouldn't even think about attempting. It wasn't fair that life had to be this way for him, not when people like Sora were born with this natural glow to them, and Roxas who somehow managed to maintain some sort of affection from people despite being nearly as unlucky as him…

He hated it, he hated the idea of it, he never wanted this…

He would do anything to change it.

* * *

Morning was usual for him.

Wake up, punch wall just beneath the sill of his window where his alarm clock sat, then punch his alarm clock into shutting up. Get up, get to the bathroom to realize Roxas got to it before him and he has to wait, go (fall) downstairs to make breakfast for himself, burn the toast, burn himself while burning the toast, give up, watch the morning news until Roxas gets out of bathroom.

Get into the bathroom, brush his teeth, stain his shirt with the toothpaste, change his shirt, wash his face, get his shirt collar wet, change his shirt again, think about trying to improve his appearance after that, but gives up because he doesn't feel like changing his shirt anymore. Goes to bum breakfast off of Roxas, Roxas burns the eggs, the toast, the bacon, and himself, Ventus laughs, then burns his tongue on the burnt eggs. They eat, they miss the bus, walk to school, Ventus trips over a crack and scrapes his elbows, they get to school, and Ventus is late to homeroom for going to the nurse about his elbows, gets five demerits and a detention tomorrow afternoon.

He groans as he falls into his desk, laying his head down on the surface in front of him to let some of the regular morning angst wash over him. This happened again and again, nearly every morning. At one time, Ventus had actually had some hope left, he would try to do something different from the day before as if expecting that it would result in better luck. It never did, so that idea had been forgotten about fairly quickly… It was pretty lame anyways, now that he thinks about it.

Suddenly, the bell rang loudly, making him moan under his breath at the piercing pain through his head. Just great, now he has a head ache. Standing, he slowly made his way out of the classroom, walking down the hall stuck behind a particularly loud and slow moving crowd of kids. He scowled to himself, feeling some kind of bottled up rage forming in him as he was forced to come to terms with that fact that these dumbasses, who couldn't manage to say goodbye to each other in the morning and go to fucking class, would be the ones to make him late to his class…

It's a little obvious that it would be at this point that he would snap, especially after realizing they were freshmen. Seniority wins out here, right? Well, turns out, it doesn't matter how much seniority you have over freshmen, shoving them into a locker will still double the amount of detention you have for that week. And so Ventus was still late for his next class, only now with the majority of the freshmen year despising his guts, and twice as much detention as before. Just fucking great.

"_-We'll make a deal, and I'll solve all of your problems."_

He flinched as that line popped into his head again, making him remember that possibly psychotic boy from the night before, a chill running down his spine as he thought how those words would match his needs so perfectly right now. How he could use someone to take care of all these dumb little problems for him, he would love it; he would die happy because of it. If he thought it was possible, he wouldn't hesitate to make the deal. But, really, he wasn't dumb; he wouldn't fall for such an obvious scam. Sure, the disappearing act at the end was pretty cool, but there was no way in hell that demons really existed…

School took forever to end, but thankfully it ended with only minimal more damage to himself. Running home from Seifer, a bully, this time, he reached the safety of his home in time, slamming the door shut behind him as he heard Seifer's threats just on the other side. Solving all his problems though, even if it were a scam, he would take almost anything he could get, as long as that guy _tried_ it would possibly be enough for him…

Then he suddenly remembered something else about that boy from yesterday… Hadn't he said he would be coming back tonight? Yeah, he'd been telling him to make sure he was alone in his room for their meeting, but he didn't see how that was going to happen, he did share his room with Roxas and he can't just kick him out for no reason like that.

Sitting on his bed later, flipping through a novel he was reading for the fifth time, he hissed and began to suck on his finger when he got a paper cut, looking up slightly to see his brother staring at him, "What?"

Roxas quickly shook his head, "Oh, um, nothing… But, uh… I'm gonna be going out tonight, alright?"

Ventus raised an eyebrow, "Alright? You don't need to run this by me first. Do you need me to come too; we're pretty dangerous to leave out alone at night."

Roxas sighed a bit, standing to walk over to his closet and begin dressing in his carefully pre-picked wardrobe, stripping off his pants as he decided to tell Ventus more, "Well, uh, I'm not gonna be alone exactly…"

Ventus looked up in surprise, "Oh, who you hanging out with? Hayner again? Or Pence?"

Roxas just shook his head slowly, tugging his shirt on gently as he sighed and turned to look at his brother, "Um, Sora's taking me out on a date."

Ventus paused, looking up from the familiar text to just stare at his brother, "Oh."

"Yeah."

It was quiet, tense and absolutely silent, a ringing in his ears that he knew would make him deaf after too long, and then he turned his eyes back to the pages, trying to hide the intense scowl, "W-Well, have fun."

Roxas looked up at his brother softly for a moment, a sigh making his shoulders drop heavily before he mumbled a thanks and shuffled out of the room. Ventus probably maintained the stony-faced expression for another minute until the tears started to pour from his eyes, like a broken faucet in the hands of a five year-old. He dropped the novel to the floor, rolling over on his bed to face the wall, only to yelp and jump back in fright at the sight of the black-haired boy lying next to him in bed.

"Y-You!"

"Me!" Vanitas grinned cheerily, then let the scowl fall back on his face, "So, you come up with a price yet?"

Ventus just stared at him, "What? No, I'm not going to do this stupid game of yours-"

"Game? Oh fuck no, I think not, this is very real, buddy. You put your soul on the market, I want it, so you will sell it to me. Or are you saying that it's just up for grabs and that you're a soul whore?" Ventus stared back at the golden gaze, his breath caught somewhere in his throat as he tried to think of something to say.

"You… really think you can fix all my problems?"

Vanitas' face spread deviously into a smirk, his arms reaching out all too quickly to grab Ventus and pin him under him on the bed, "Is this a price I hear? I'll fix anything you come up with boy, for the rest of eternity, as long as it doesn't interfere with my terms of ownership…"

"O-Ownership?! What? Like I'm a dog! Let me go! I don't wa-" Vanitas gripped Ventus' wrists, casually placing the blonde's hands one over the other, then held them down with one hand above his head effortlessly, making Ventus go silent once again in fear.

Vanitas found his eyes and locked them into another gaze, staring deep into the blue ones, deep into the boy, into his soul, "Think about it. You do small favors for me, and I will do small favors to you. We stay loyal to each other, and it's like a marriage except with all the benefits and no need to feel any violent rage towards your partner in later years. You can go through the rest of your life completely carefree, without any worries in the world, do anything you want and not have to worry about the consequences… It sounds like a sweet deal, doesn't it? Especially where you're at now…"

Ventus frowned, "I-It's not all bad…"

"Your _twin_ brother is out getting showered with the affection from the boy you've liked for about a year now. You'll be lucky to pass high school, as you seem to only go there now to get in trouble and get detention, your grades are shit. You have no friends and no moral support, and completely lack the social skills to make any positive relationships at all. Last night, you were hoping to be killed by a gang, and instead were going to be happy just bleeding out on the street because of your own doing. … I think it's pretty low already."

Ventus just stared at him, his vision swimming a bit as he began to feel light headed, "I know it's just a joke…You can't just fix all my problems like that, can you?"

"Well," Vanitas smirked leaning in closer to the blonde boy, "Why don't you just accept the deal and find out, huh?"

Ventus continued to stare at him curiously, immobilized both by the other's strength and the sheer weight that the other's gaze seemed to put on him, he felt nearly drugged, his mind going hazy, "Alright… deal."

Vanitas' mouth suddenly smashed against his, making Ventus groan in discomfort from the rough kissing, squirming as if trying to get away, but leaving breathless anyways as Vanitas finally pulled away to focus attention to the neck. A hand grasped the lose t-shirt on the blonde, and with one tug ripped it right off the boy, making him whimper, "Wh-Why? What are you going to-"

"The Contract has to be finalized…" His teeth suddenly sank into the soft flesh of the boy's neck, making Ventus yelp in pain. His pants were gone in the next moment, certainly lying in shreds on the floor as this demon hovered over his nearly naked, smirking down at him devilishly, "We can still have fun with making it complete though, can't we? I can show you what to expect as work from me in the future…"

He grabbed the blonde hair roughly, tugging the boy to the floor as he continued to sit on the side of the bed. Once on his knees, Vanitas smirked at him and unzipped his jeans, tugging them down a bit to show that he was definitely not a fan of underwear, Ventus just gulped, his hands trembling as they continued to attempt to tug the fingers out of his hair. It wasn't working, instead he found himself tugged between the black haired boy's legs, squeezing his eyes shut as he saw _it_ right in front of him.

"Suck it."

A sick shiver ran down his spine, his gag reflex acting up already, he shook his head wildly, whimpering as the grip on his hair tightened and another hand buried itself in his abdomen. He curled suddenly, gasping for air from the blow, and then Vanitas grabbed his jaw and shoved it in, making him begin choking; trying to breathe through his nose as the warm, hard length was being pushed in and out of his mouth. Back and forth, his head held solidly in place as he felt the pre-cum coating his mouth, the tickle of the pubic hair under his nose making him twitch it uncomfortably.

The only other thing that could add even more humiliation to this situation was that this entire time he'd been clawing and hitting and struggling to get away, and none of it even so much as affected Vanitas. He gave up.

His fingers digging into the wood floor beneath him, he felt the burning liquid threatening his eyes before they even began, finally being pushed over the edge with the next order, "Get on your hands and knees, don't stop sucking."

Slowly, he moved, his arms trembling as he got into position, immediately regretting it as he felt the fingers invade his underwear, brushing over one of his butt cheeks before playfully pinching it a bit, causing Ventus to squeak a bit. The blonde felt the fingers reach the soft skin around his anus, one beginning to push past the muscle and making him wince in pain from the foreign object. He could hear Vanitas snicker above him, feel the shame burning in his face, there was another hard tug on his hair, and he had to keep himself from choking as Vanitas' dick felt like it was shoved even farther.

Another finger began to sneak in, making Ventus whimper from the pain as they both began to push in, gradually farther and farther, tears leaking down his face as they moved around inside him, finally up to the knuckle, they brushed against something, and Ventus suddenly moaned loudly. His face turned even redder as he heard Vanitas' groan in response, "Damn, Ventus, your mouth feels really good, I can't wait for your ass. You gonna part your legs like a good boy? Like the little whore you signed yourself up to be?"

The fingers were rubbing against the spot, making Ventus rock back onto them unconsciously, trying to keep the moans down but finding it hard with Vanitas' cock still in his mouth. He felt the intensity building in his lower abdomen, panting hard as Vanitas began to shove into his mouth harder, he could see the white flashes of the stars behind his eyelids, the ringing and blood rushing in his ears making up for the sounds of his own traitorous moans loudly echoing in his head.

He was close, he knew he was close, and he knew Vanitas was close, oh-so close, so unbearably close… Then the door opened.

"Hey, Ven, just wanted to say 'hi' before-" Sora stood frozen in the door way, his expression frozen, his body frozen, staring straight at the two people in the room.

Vanitas smirked as he stopped moving, keeping a firm hand on the blonde hair in his hand as he kept hitting Ventus' prostate, making the blonde involuntarily push back despite the embarrassment of Sora watching the entire thing. He felt his ears turn as red as his face, the tears working their ways back in his eyes as he couldn't restrain his voice with his mouth wrapped around Vanitas, the pressure in his lower abdomen about to burst, the blood rushing through his ears blocking out all the noises, the stars in his eyes unable to hide Sora's eyes on him in shock. Then he burst.

He moaned loudly, the vibrations causing Vanitas to bite his lip to hold back, smirking as he let the blonde go and sink to the floor panting heavily. He looked up at the shell-shocked brunette in the doorway, the boy slowly turning to look at him instead of the blonde on the floor, "You missed your chance, he's mine now."

Sora scowled suddenly, his eyes seeming a little more poisonous than what was normal, "The plan was that I get the twins in life, you get their souls in death. What the fuck do you think you're doing here?"

Vanitas just continued to grin, "You're doing a shitty job. Technically, this one would've died yesterday, and I would have gotten his soul then, but I kept him alive to make a contract with him, which you are interrupting now. Leave, shoo-shoo, you gotta go bang some other blonde, don't you?"

Sora's scowl grew harsher, but he just snorted and turned away, quickly shutting the door behind him, leaving Vanitas to bend down to pick the nearly unconscious blonde up by his arms, bringing him up to the bed and laying him down. Ventus' eyes peeked open, staring at Vanitas warily, "You guys know each other?"

Vanitas just smirked at him, licking his lips as he stands and retrieves a small bottle from his pants pocket before quickly peeling off shirt and pants both, "We're not done yet, Ventus…"

The blonde's eyebrows rose, his eyes growing wider as the black-haired boy climbed on top of him again, this time spreading his legs apart to get between them, "N-No, wait, please not that!"

"Nope, it's that."

"No! It'll hurt! Don't! I don't want it, please don't!"

"Buuuut, we gotta do it, Ventus, or the contract won't be finished…"

"PLEASE. Not that, please, don't make the first time hurt, please!"

Vanitas paused, staring at the crying blonde for a moment, disgruntled as he watched the boy trying to desperately climb away from him while he had a grip on his leg. He sighed once, then twice, and finally dropped the lotion beside them, "Fine…"

Ventus stopped struggling, looking up at him in relief before that same smirk spread across his face, "Then I'll make sure it doesn't hurt…"

Ventus yelped as his underwear was suddenly tugged off, his hands being slapped away as he went to cover himself, he just found himself gasp in shock instead as he was suddenly flipped onto his stomach. Gulping in fear, he was about to move when he felt hands on his back and hips, lifting his butt into the air and making his jaw drop open and face turn red in utter humiliation, growing even redder as he felt something wet prod at his entrance.

"D-Don't do that! It's embarrassing, stop it!"

He could feel Vanitas' breath against his entrance as the guy chuckled, making him shiver violently as his tongue suddenly plunged into him, moaning loudly before slapping a hand over his mouth, the other tearing into his bed sheets beneath him. He squeezed his eyes shut, breathing turning heavy again as he felt the slick appendage move in and out of him, imitating Vanitas' plans with his cock. He felt a finger also slip into him, moaning ecstatically as the small length pushed against that spot inside him as the tongue continued to lap at the entrance.

Suddenly, they withdrew, making him groan at the absence of the pleasure, recovering from the intensity as he began to realize what was next. He quickly looked over his shoulder just as Vanitas dropped the bottle of lotion and got on his knees again, lining himself at Ventus' entrance. The blonde gasped in pain as he felt Vanitas begin to push inside him, somewhat easily pushing past the first ring of muscles before continuing on deeper, even deeper then the fingers, making tears spring to his eyes at the feeling of being stretched so wide.

It was at that moment that it all sort of struck him, what was going on, what he was doing. He had made a contract with this crazy son of a bitch to make his life better, thinking that it was a joke, and then the guy started mouth raping him. He fights him like a pussy and has no effect, this guy turns him around, finger bangs him, eats him out, and is now shoving his dick in him… He's letting this guy put it in him, this stranger, his first time with someone he's never met before in his life, who seems pretty insane, and is very violent.

He was crying again, but as usual, that didn't matter much.

Vanitas bent over his body once fully inside, breathing heavily against his cheek as he grinned at the boy's tears, "I was right, your ass feels even better than your mouth, like you were born to be a fucking slut."

Ventus hiccupped, his shoulders shaking violently as Vanitas slowly pulled out and pushed back in, making him yelp in pain. Vanitas leaned forward again, "So fucking tight, just wait until I make you all slick and easy to enter with my cum," Ventus shivered from the dirty talk, flinching slightly as the demon licked up the tears on his face.

He pulled out again, slamming back in to a spot that made Ventus' back arch drastically, a moan tearing from his throat immediately. He smirked as he pulled out again, repeating the same process again and again, Ventus eventually complying to rock back against him although most likely involuntarily, he reached around to grasp the neglected length softly, rubbing the head torturously.

"Ah, V-Vanitas… Oh, oh, stop! Ah!" Ventus could feel himself getting closer, groaning loudly as he felt the pressure again building up, his hips bucking sloppily in pace as he was almost there, just about to release, a scream being emitted from his throat…

Vanitas held him firm, refusing to let him cum as Ventus whined loudly, his voice hoarse as he just desperately rocked against Vanitas, "Oh, please, please, Vani-Vanitas, please, let me come, let me go, oh God, please…"

Vanitas smirked, biting down on the back of the blonde's next suddenly, releasing the boy and coming inside him as the waves of pleasure finally rushed through them, Vanitas pumping the last bits of his orgasm off into the now limp blonde. He stopped, supporting his panting frame above the blonde on the bed, slowly pulling out of him with a grunt and a smirk as he watched some of his seed leak out at the same time.

Collapsing on the bed next to him, he looked over to see the blonde had completely blacked-out in his orgasm, making Vanitas snort. The kid was really cute sometimes. He wouldn't mind having a contract with this kid, all he had to do was take care of a few petty problems for him, and Ventus would be his sex slave for the rest of eternity…

That sounded like an awesome deal.

He grinned deviously to himself, rolling over to face the body next to him; he brushed his fingers along the soft cheekbones of the sleeping boy, unaware of the smile passing across his face as he continued to gaze upon him.

All that was going through his head now was Ventus, Ventus is finally his, all his, and he doesn't have to share him with anyone.

He had Ventus all to himself, to do _anything_ he wished…


	2. New Day, New Life

Ven's eyes snapped open as a beeping sound snapped him out of his unconscious state, causing him to shoot out of bed, his first thought being to locate Vanitas and run in the opposite direction, but… Vanitas was nowhere in sight, and it was just Roxas, still passed-out in bed on the other side of the room, and he was fully dressed in his sweatpants and t-shirt that he uses as pajamas, and… well, he wasn't in any pain…

Just what had happened last night? Had he just dreamt that all up?

… He must've. That entire thing, from the beginning, from nearly dying in the street, he had just had a nightmare is all.

Shaking his head slowly, he yawned and finally realized that his alarm clock was still going off, so he reached over and smacked it, hitting the snooze button for an extra half hour. He glanced to the other side of the room in surprise though; he didn't think he had ever once woken up before Roxas… But this means that he gets the bathroom first for once, too! So he jumped out of bed and raced towards the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting the water heat up as he began brushing his teeth.

Sticking the tooth brush in his mouth, he began brushing when he glanced up at the mirror and spit the brush out before he had the chance to choke on it, his shocked expression completely focused on the black symbol that had taken residence on the surface skin of his neck. Staring at it for a moment, he gulped and lifted one trembling hand up to gently touch the gear-like design on his neck. He hissed as he realized the mark was sensitive, whatever it was… Had he gotten drunk and gotten a tattoo without realizing it?

… Obviously not. He has no access to alcohol, no friends to get alcohol, and while he is 18, he was not trusted enough to even get his permit, never mind license, so he would have no way of proving his legality to the tattoo artist…

Where did it…?

He turned his head slightly, gasping as he saw another mark on the back of his neck, straining himself to see it, a loud bang at the door caused him to jump, hearing Roxas on the other side, "Hey! Hurry up in there! I'll start breakfast!"

Ven shouted a quick alright back to him, turning and stripping, about to get in the shower, but not before hearing the tell-tale bang and smash as the usual sound indicating that Roxas had missed the worn and slick fifth step from the bottom.

* * *

Making it out of the shower, into their room to change into some clothes, and down the stairs without any mishaps (setting a new record for himself), he jumped into his seat at the kitchen table to see Roxas munching on some burnt toast and looking all around kind of pathetic, "Failed with breakfast—you want to try?"

Ven smiled a bit and nodded, "Alright, you go take the shower, I'll try something."

Roxas sighed and bounded upstairs, skipping over the fifth step this time, and Ven headed over to the kitchen to find some eggs and bacon, deciding he would try these for breakfast. Cooking them, he realized that it was very strange for him to have made it this far already through the day without a stroke of bad luck, it was extremely strange in fact. He wasn't unhappy about it, but still, he wondered…

"_-We'll make a deal, and I'll solve all of your problems."_

… No… It's not possible…

Blinking out of his thoughts suddenly, he realized that breakfast was done, and amazingly not burnt or anything. Quickly, he split it between two plates and brought them over to the table, just in time as Roxas came down the stairs, being cautious around the fifth step once more, and stared at the plate in surprise, "I don't think either of us have ever made something cooked to a normal degree once in our entire lives… until now, that is."

Ven shrugged, and began digging into the breakfast, "I wasn't going to question it, you know? I thought it might jinx whatever's going on here."

Roxas smirked and glanced at his brother as he sat down, and then his jaw dropped, "Holy shit, what's that on your neck?!"

Ventus dropped his fork and reached up instinctively, feeling around until he remembered the mark on his neck from this morning, "Oh, uh, I don't know. It was there when I woke up…"

Roxas stared at him, then raised an eyebrow, "Really? You went to bed last night, and woke up this morning with a giant ass hickey on your neck?"

"Hickey?!" Ven snapped; face turning slightly red, "It's not a hickey! Are you blind?! It doesn't look anything like that!"

"Uh-huh…" Roxas muttered lowly, staring at his brother dubiously, "So… who was it then that left this mysterious 'bruise' on your neck? Whoever it is, I take it that they _really_ like you."

"No one-" Ven froze, his mind flashing back to his so called nightmare, the times that Vanitas had bitten his neck, and he couldn't help the shiver that rushed through his body. Roxas just continued to stare at him doubtfully, but then his twin smiled at him.

"It's cool, Ven, I'm glad that you got someone, chill about it. I'm glad that, you know, that you aren't upset about, well, me and Sora…"

Ventus at first expected to feel the familiar pang of pain in his chest, but when it didn't come, when the world kept turning as normal even after the mention of his name, and that ringing in his ears never made it to the appointment, he realized that something happened last night. Something he thought was a nightmare had really happened.

And Vanitas hadn't been playing games.

* * *

Before he left the house that day, he ran up stairs and grabbed one of those really large handkerchiefs to tie around his neck, it was black and white, standing out against the black skinny jeans and red t-shirt he was wearing, but it covered the marks on his neck, so it worked well enough anyways. All it had to do was cover up the bruise/hickey/mark on his neck, and he had checked in the mirror before putting it on, and it still looked more like a tattoo of a broken gear to him, but Roxas still swore that he knew what a hickey looked like, and that was a hickey.

Why did it look like a hickey to Roxas and a gear to him? There's no way that you could mistake those two things…

Roxas had been picked up by Sora that morning, and while the brunette offered him a ride, Ven found it would be a smarter idea to just walk, especially sense he couldn't bring himself to even meet the guy's eye. Yesterday, he would've swooned and jumped in, even if Sora had a hockey mask and chainsaw and was driving an old, bloody, white pedo-van. Today, all he can think about is Sora walking in on him and Vanitas and… the… _activities_ they had been performing.

It was a new level of humiliation, that was for sure, but it was nothing compared to the realization that he had actually done all of that. The mere thought of sex would make him blush, and he had actually _done it_ with a _stranger_? A _demon_ even! How the hell did all of this happen in the first place? Why did it happen?

And what's more, Sora had walked in on it while it was happening… and he hadn't stopped Vanitas. He hadn't even tried. Him and Vanitas had said something to each other, and then he just closed the door and walked away… But, he didn't know what was going on, right? If he did, he would never have walked away like that. Vanitas must have… Vanitas must have lied to him, otherwise Sora would have helped him, because Sora is a good guy.

He couldn't have known what Vanitas was doing…

A loud honk made him jump suddenly, causing him to turn towards the road to see an old Jeep Wrangler pull up, the back down to match the warm weather they were having early in spring, but what really surprised him were the people inside. It was those concerned guys who he had thought were killer gangsters a couple days ago. He still froze like a deer in headlights as they pulled up, despite them proving themselves to be quite kind before, and his eyes darting from the redhead, to the brunette, to the silver-haired one, and then stopped at the unfamiliar blue-haired girl.

The brunette was driving, but the redhead was the one who leaned out of the Jeep towards him, raising an eyebrow at him, "Hey, you're that kid from the other night! The one who thought we were going to hurt you!"

"I-I-I-"

The redhead was smacked from behind by the girl, she scowled at him disapprovingly before looking over at the blonde, "It's alright, hon, I know they look kind of scary, but they're all cuddly as teddy bears."

"I'm not a fucking stuffed animal, thank you very much," The brunette huffed, pouting as he looked out the window to the road.

She just nodded slowly, "Riiiight, okay, Terra…" She then winked over at the blonde, "They're harmless, you don't gotta be so nervous round them."

"You're in high school?" His attention suddenly shifted to the silver-haired teen in the back, sitting next to the girl, nodding quickly in response to his question, "The one a couple blocks away, right? Hey, Ter, why not give the kid a ride?"

Terra looked over at Ven, making the blonde want to curl up on himself. Even though he probably didn't mean to look menacing, this Terra guy could put a guy like Ven in his place with just a look. That guy was tall, with big muscles, a dark expression, and an aura that just said to not mess with him.

"Yeah, sure, hop in."

His heart froze and all he found he could do was stare at them blankly, the shock he was experiencing was mistaken for hesitation though, as the redhead leaned out of the Jeep again, the guy being so tall that he practically loomed over him from the action, "Hey, kid, c'mon, Ku has gotta get there too, you know."

The guy's head snapped down though as the girl smacks the back of it again, "Stop scaring him, Ax, you're being an asshole. C'mon kid, you don't gotta worry, Riku goes to that school too, so we gotta get there anyways."

Hesitantly, he nodded, the girl opening the door to let him in next to her, and the second he got his butt in the seat, he had to rush to pull the door shut as Terra took off down the street. The girl smiled down at him, "I'm Aqua, by the way, the one driving is Terra, and this is Riku over here and Axel up there. We're all going to Bastion University, except little baby Riku!"

Riku scoffed from his spot as Axel snickered at him, Terra just ignored all of them as he drove, making Ven relax a bit more. They seemed friendly, but… "Um, what grade?"

Riku's attention shifted to him in surprise, "I'm a Senior, you?"

Ven's eyebrows jumped up, because he was in the same grade as the other teen, "Uh, but I've never seen you before…"

Axel snorted, "He doesn't make friends—he's the creepy kid who sits in the back of classes and gives a dirty look at anyone who glances at him."

"Shut the fuck up, Ax, I don't remember you having a bunch of friends in high school either!"

The two boys continued to bicker as Aqua leaned in closer to him, "Hey, can I ask you for a favor? Just hang out with Ku a bit? He really doesn't have any friends in high school, and we already moved on to college, I just don't want him to feel so alone, you know? So could you…"

Ven just stared at her for a moment, then glanced over to the silver-haired teen on her other side, the guy still arguing with Axel, and then he shifted his attention back to the girl, "Um…"

"He's really not that bad," She whispered, "He's just… shy, sorta, in a way. He's bad at socializing, he's a bit of a loner, but we can tell he's not happy being alone in high school, so please…"

"Um…" He sighed as he looked away nervously. Sure, he wanted a friend too, but he wasn't sure Aqua was asking the right person to befriend Riku here, he lacked in the socializing area too, he wasn't sure he would be able to come up with anything to say, to say the right things, to really befriend Riku, "I'll… try?"

She smiled brightly, ruffling his hair as the jeep slowed to a stop. Ven glanced out of the car to see the school right there, and then flinched as he heard the car door on Riku's side slam shut. He glanced back to Aqua, who nodded reassuringly at him, and then sighed shakily.

This was not what he had imagined when he thought friends. He did not imagine a friend to be a moody, slightly scary-looking, tall, muscular, angst-filled teen who resided mostly in the background of everything. He at least hadn't imagined that the guys who he thought were a gang and were going to kill him, would actually turn around and be the ones who offered him friendship.

Slipping out of the jeep, he looked up nervously in front of him to see Riku waiting, seemingly impatiently at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the front doors, making him quickly wave to the rest of them as he jogged over to the silver-haired teen. They began walking up the steps silently, making Ven keep his eyes locked to the ground underneath them, unsure of what to say next.

"What's your first period?"

He looked up, and thought for a moment, "Uh… I have Global Perspectives first."

Riku nodded, pushing the door open and holding it as Ven followed in after him, he started heading towards the library, making Ven hesitate, "Hey, aren't you going to homeroom first?"

He stopped and looked back at the blonde, then shrugged, "We're Seniors, they don't even bother with attendance this late in the year with us anymore. I'm skipping first and second, by the way, so you know where to find me."

Ven looked at him as the silver-haired boy began walking away towards the library, then back to the halls when the sound of the bell rang and everyone began heading towards their homerooms. He debated for a second, deliberated, and then jogged after the other teen towards the library.

What other chance would he have to make a friend anyways?

* * *

Ven leaned back in the cushioned chair, looking over his history book for his Global class. He may be skipping the class, but that doesn't mean he can't at least _try_ to learn something, right? He wasn't aiming to get time off, after all, just to make a friend. Riku wasn't that bad to tell the truth though. The other teen was also studying, and for someone who claimed they only had a B average, he was shocked by how much the guy knew.

Then again, if he came in here for the first half of the day every day, just to study for his classes, and didn't do any real homework in them, and just took the tests and Finals, then, yeah… he could logically pull it off.

Ven looked away from his book for a second, glancing across from him to the seat he was facing, the other teen sitting there comfortably. He chewed his lip thoughtfully before he decided to speak, "So, do you always skip the first two classes?"

Riku nodded slowly, "I have an art class first, I do the work for it at home in my own time, and my second period is free anyways. Then I got lunch. You?"

"Um, Global, Physics, lunch, and, um, Psych and Brit. Lit." Riku looked up at him, his face blank, and then he smirked.

"You're not passing all those, it's impossible," Ven sighed and shrugged, turning his head down to look like he was staring at his Global book.

Yeah, he was actually failing two of them, Global and Physics, and he was in the D range with the last two, but you can't really blame him. All of those classes were probably the hardest classes available in the school, and he couldn't even switch them either, something about the Guidance Office not being able to withdraw him from anymore classes due to a new school standard. So he was stuck in them, and had to pull his grade up in Global at least, it was his only required class.

Riku stood and walked over to him, collapsing in the seat beside him, making Ven look up at him questioningly, "Alright, what chapter are you on? I had Global last semester."

* * *

Riku and him had lunch in the library that day, Riku tutoring him about the Global class the entire time, and then Physics, too, even though he had never taken Physics. Needless to say, Ven felt incompetent in comparison, but still extremely grateful that he now knew what the hell his teachers had been talking about this entire time.

He felt a lot more confident about the classes for the next day, that was for sure, and as the last bell rang and he began walking out of class, he seriously felt good for the first time in years. About school, about life, about everything, it just all seemed to be going better. And it was all because of… Vanitas?

Speak of the devil; just as he slammed his locker shut, he turned around to see said demon standing right behind him. He jumped, and yelped, his back coming in contact with the lockers behind him.

The first thing he did was let his eyes search the rest of the hallway, thinking that maybe Vanitas won't do anything if there were people around, unfortunately, though, everyone seemed to decide to get home as fast as possible today for some reason. Gee, he wonders why… He took another glance at Vanitas, wincing as he saw the smirk on the demon's face. Hands came up to rest against the locker behind Ven, on either side of his head, making him shrink into himself as those golden eyes came in closer to him.

He gulped silently, turning his head down to face the floor, biting his lip as he felt him continue getting closer, could feel his warm breath brushing across his face, "I kept my promise to you. All those problems are gone now, aren't they?"

Ven could feel his body shaking slightly, making him take a few deep breaths before nodding slowly. He had heard a lot about what to do in case you were mugged, or held at gun-point, or something, and even though this was nothing like those cases, this was a demon he was with and not some guy who wanted his wallet, it clicked into his head for some reason. First thing he had to do was comply with the guy, he wanted to get the entire thing over with as soon as possible, so he should just hand over whatever he asks for, and then run to a safe place before calling the police.

He's fucked.

Maybe even literally.

It was bull anyways in this case, he knows what this guy wants, and there is no way in hell he would do that again, even if he was paid-

"You want to keep it that way, don't you?"

Ven sucked in his breath, his hands clenching into fists, his heart speeding to pound against his ribs harshly, then slowly nodded once again.

"Go home, and at ten tonight, take a shower."

"Hey, Ven, let's go!"

He flinched and snapped his head up to look down the hallway, his breath caught in his throat when he realized that Riku was standing there with Sora. He turned back to see that Vanitas was already walking off down the hallway, a grin on his face, "See you later, Ventus. I'm looking forward to our date."

Ven let his breath out shakily, his shoulders slowly falling as he began relaxing once again. He sighed as a heavy feeling settled in his heart. Then Riku interrupted his moment, "You have a date… with _him_? No offense, Ven, but I think you can do better, at least better than that creeper."

"That 'creeper' is my brother, thanks," Sora laughed, making Riku's eyebrows jump up quickly in surprise.

"Oh, uh, sorry, man."

"No problem, don't worry about it."

"Wait, wait," Ven pulled away from the locker, jaw dropped as he turned to look at Sora, feeling his face begin to heat up as he remembered how he interrupted last night, and then turned away, "He's your _brother_."

Sora frowned a bit, eyes turning away a bit, "Uh, yeah. Listen, Roxie and I are going to the movies, and Roxie wanted to know if you wanted to go too. Um, Riku could come, too, if he wants to…"

Riku looked between them strangely, about to answer when Ven cut him off, "I'm fine, I'm going home. See ya later."

He turned and began walking off in the direction that Vanitas had walked, but he felt like he had no reason to be scared of the guy showing up… Not until tonight, at least. Instead, his mind was consumed with the fact that Sora and Vanitas were brothers… _brothers_. Just that mere fact, it meant so much. It meant that Sora could be a demon, too, either that or Vanitas was still playing a joke on him and really was human… although, with how well his day went today, he highly doubts that. And it meant… that night, when Sora walked in…

He must have known what Vanitas was doing. He is related to him, he knows him, he knew what was going on… why did he walk away? Why had he let Vanitas do that to him?

"Ven, wait up!" Ven stopped by the front door, turning around to see Riku running up to him, "Terra wanted to know if you wanted a ride home…"

"Oh, yeah, sure."

He pushed the door open, slipping out as Riku followed after him and they began heading down the steps towards the parking lot. Riku looked over at him strangely, sticking his hands in his pockets casually as he walked, "So… What's up with you and Sora?"

Ven frowned, looking over at the guy as he shifted the messenger bag nervously, "What do you mean?"

He shrugged a bit, not replying back immediately, then smirked down at the blonde, "You two were acting awkward, like there was something between you two."

Ven shook his head, "Nah, it's nothing. He's dating my brother's all."

"Oh," Riku hummed contemplatively to himself, then shrugged, "Whatever, you don't want to talk about it, I get it."

"Well, it's not like it's something that I'm embarrassed about," Ven replied quickly, frowning over at him, "I just… it's personal, you know?"

"Yeah, man, I get it. If you don't want to talk about it, I get it, it's cool."

"But that's the thing, there's nothing really to talk about, nothing happened. I mean, nothing was going to happen, because he's dating my brother and everything, but… you know…"

Riku looked over at him as they stepped off the sidewalk, his look skeptical, "Uh-huh."

Ven's nose wrinkled in irritation, "Don't give me that look! I wouldn't do anything with him dating my brother! Nothing happened! I don't even like him anymore, he just… last night… something happened, alright? And he was there, and now things are awkward."

Riku raised an eyebrow, "You know what that sounds like, right?"

Ven scowled at him again, "Yeah, but nothing like _that_ happened between us… It was… It was more like, something **bad** was happening, and it was going to hurt me—it was hurting me, and he could have stopped it and… Well, he didn't, and now… yeah…"

He jerked back as Riku suddenly grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stop, turning him so they faced each other, "Were you doing drugs?"

"What?" Ven's voice jumped up a pitch, making him clear his throat quickly from embarrassment, "I-I mean, what?"

"It's alright if you tell me, Ven," Riku was serious about this too, that was the real shocking part of his question, "Was it Molly? That's been all over the campus everybody goes to."

Ven just stared at him, eyes wide and shocked, "No!"

Riku blinked and frowned, "Then what the hell were you doing that was so bad?"

"I didn't—I mean—I wasn't doing anything!"

"Then why don't you just tell me?"

Ven turned away, stomping farther into the parking lot, spotting Terra's Jeep a few spaces away, "No, just forget it, it's nothing."

Riku scowled at him, his eyebrows furrowing together, "Fucking tease…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ven snapped back as they finally reached the Jeep, a frown on his face.

Riku shrugged, "Say you don't want to talk about it, then you start to talk about it, and now you don't want to talk about it—you're a fucking tease."

"What's going on?" Aqua asked from the back, looking over at them as Ven began climbing in and Riku walked around the back to his side.

Riku snorted, "Nothing, Ven doesn't want to talk about it."

"Yeah, and you were all like, 'I get it, man, it's cool' about me not talking about it—until now!" Ven snapped back, crossing his arms as he pouted in the seat.

"I didn't know you were going to be a fucking tease about it, though!" Riku sneered.

"Girls, shut the fuck up, you're both beautiful in my eyes," Axel smirked at them, turning in his seat to look at them, Ven just scowled at him, Riku glared, but Aqua went ahead and smacked his head.

"Shut up, Ax, don't be a douche. What are you guys fighting about?" Aqua looked between Ven and Riku curiously, her eyes wide with the prospect of gossip, but she would be disappointed.

Riku shrugged, looking away from her, leaving her to change her gaze to Ven instead, who glanced at her, glanced at Riku, and then turned his attention to Terra, "Um, thanks for the ride."

Terra snorted from the driver's seat, starting the car and beginning to pull out.


	3. What Goes Around

That night would prove to confuse the living fuck out of him, but he didn't know that yet.

* * *

He had gotten home okay, but he was more than hyper aware of the fact that he had about 8 hours until he would have to experience last night all over again.

He couldn't do that, he couldn't live with that, he couldn't do it again, he didn't want to. It would flash behind his eyelids, and it would cause a searing pain in his eyes, make his throat burn, and his entire body feel foreign. He didn't want to go through that again… But then, would the contract be void? Would it just end? Or would there be some sort of… "legal" action taken? Like with a real contract?

… What kind of "legal" action would that be, though?

Well, he would just have to find a loophole; because there was no way that he was going to let it happen again.

He yawned as he dropped his bag in his room, falling onto his bed as he glanced at the clock. 7 hours and 45 minutes left. He didn't know what he would do when that time did come around, he didn't know who would be around, he didn't know if anyone would walk in this time, if there would be another person he would never be able to look in the face again. But he severely hoped that it wouldn't be his brother this time, he does have to live with the guy, after all. He is out with Sora right now though…

Sora…

He doesn't want to even think about that guy right now, and at the same time he can't help but think about it. He feels no attraction to him anymore, not physically, not emotionally, he can't even look the guy in the eyes. Is it really only because he walked in last night and didn't help him? He had to have known Vanitas was hurting him, it was so obvious, he'd been fucking crying, and yet Sora just closed the door and walked away. Just what the fuck had happened there?

Obviously, he felt betrayed and hurt and all the normal feelings a person in his position would feel, but what made it all the worse is that it wasn't because he had thought he really loved Sora at the time, but because he just felt so **disappointed** that the kind, good, happy Sora wouldn't help him when he was being raped. It was wrong, it was messed up, and it was not what he had been expecting from the guy. He had thought he was the light in this world, that even though he and Roxas had been cursed with this bad luck, and that the world was always seeming to grow worse off in his eyes, and that everything just seemed to be out to hurt him… that Sora could be so friendly and kind to them, and to help them whenever they needed it, and to not tease them when they screwed up, and to not hurt them anymore than the world did already… That he would turn out to see the by-product of evil in this world destroying him in that bedroom, and just shut the door and walk away…

He clenched at the bedspread under his hands until he was sure he had ripped it, his eyes squeezed shut so tightly that stars were appearing behind his eyes. In a way, he was happy that he no longer felt those loving emotions toward Sora anymore; they would just make everything worse. At the same time, he wished he did… He wished he still had something to hold onto like that. He wished that Sora hadn't just closed that door. He wished that he had never gotten into this mess. He wished… He wished he could just accept that Sora betrayed him, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so.

He saw him, they had seen each other, he had been crying, and Sora had walked away. It was clear. And yet, he couldn't stop that small bit of hope that maybe Sora had misinterpreted the scene, that he didn't know, that he would have helped him if he had known he was in pain.

He sniffed weakly into his pillow, but then retracted violently as he stared at the cloth. It hadn't smelled like usual, like his shampoo or laundry, it smelled more like… a stinging pinch in his nose? It was a suffocating smell, an all encompassing pain that stung you like a bee, like snorting something spicy… like wasabi. For a second he thought he might be mistaken, thought he might've mistaken it as smoke that was coming from downstairs or something, but the smell wasn't strong enough. He backed away from the bed, sniffing, and he couldn't smell it anymore, making him approach the bedspread and sniff it again, wrinkling his nose as he smelled the spice once more.

He gulped as he frowned at the smell, it wasn't him where it came from, and he couldn't think of anything that would smell like that coming into contact with his bed, and then the idea popped into his head. His face paled as he remembered how it happened here, last night, how he had been forced… He stormed out of the room, rushing downstairs to stand in the living room as his legs suddenly halted, stumbling back a few steps. He felt his breath shortening, his chest tightening, his heart slamming against his life, his eyes shaking as the world spun.

He felt himself crumple to the floor as the panic, the fear, began to encompass him, just like the smell still clinging to his senses.

* * *

Vanitas sighed as he sat across from the blonde woman, sneering at her, but she held her own fairly well. Her blue eyes stared at him glassily, her eyes wide but holding no innocence, her pureness being protested by the wrinkled white sundress hanging from her form. She sat in the folding chair, the white room around them seeming to stretch forever as their movements echoed in the silence.

Neither spoke, just stared at each other, Vanitas' gold eyes boiling beneath their surface, melting with her doll eyes before he finally huffed and turned away, "What did you call me for? I've got things to do."

She nodded slowly, her shoulder length hair sweeping off her shoulder with the movement, her lips parting gracefully as she sighed, barely audible, yet sounding like a gust of wind, "Vanitas. You made a contract."

He nodded, narrowing his eyes at the girl, "Yeah, I did, what's your point?"

"What were the conditions? We must make record."

He scowled at her, crossing his arms as he slouched further into the seat, "I just fix some of his petty problems and he does some things for me in exchange…"

She nodded, slowly flipping open her sketchbook, her hand gracefully running across the page. He knew she was recording what he said, that Ventus would be officially declared his property as soon as she closed that book now, at the same time, he could only wonder what was really going through her head.

Naminé, the white witch: she could be considered a demon, but she was more than that, she was stronger than that, and she had more power than a demon would ever possess, all with just a brush of her fingertips. Her fingers brushing across that page could give her all the information she would need, would tell her his and Ventus' past, their present, their future. What matters most to them, who matters most to them, and what outcome can be expected for their contract… And what can be expected without their contract. If she ordered it, she could tell Vanitas to end the contract, if she thought that it would not be wise to keep it, she could tell him to take his mark off Ventus and even order him to never see the boy again.

Vanitas hated witches, he despised them with a passion, they were what controlled demons like him, and he detested the restraints they put on him.

"The subject's soul had gone on the market," He frowned at her again, shrugging as his answer. She just looked back at him blankly, "When a soul goes on the market, it is marketed out to the demons in a public auction, the soul going to the highest bidder, and that bidder owns that soul for all of eternity, or until they sell and/or auction it off once more."

"What's your point," His voice had risen with that order, echoing off the walls noisily, hauntingly.

She paused, her face remaining the same, "The subject's soul went onto the market, but you interrupted it before a proper auction could take place, then formed a contract with the subject, a completely unnecessary act when you could have bought the soul. A contract would mean an ongoing give and take relationship between the contractor and the contracted; you would do something for the subject, who would then do something for you. Were your purposes for forming this contract to keep the subject's soul from being put on the market?"

He shrugged a bit, turning his attention to stare off into space, the light in the room nearly blinding by this point, "… I felt like marking him, like a dog marking its territory, get it?"

"So then this contract is not a contract and merely a mark… In that case, you would be ordered to take the mark off the subject's body and buy its soul in an auction, fairly. Only an active contract would-"

"Damn it, would you shut up?" Vanitas snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thought hard for a moment, "Alright, alright, how about this? There is a contract, that contract is active, so he can't go on the market now."

She nodded slowly, then resumed to look down at her sketchbook, "What are the terms for the contract?"

Vanitas raised an eyebrow, "Terms? Sense when did you guys have to start asking for the terms? That's personal, I don't want to tell you-"

She stared back at him, her voice beginning to come out a smidgen more dull, if that were possible, "The law, enforced by Ansem the Wise, states that, 'effective ten years 3 months 22 days and 12 hours ago, all demons making contracts must state terms of the contract to the witch that is making the official record. If the demon does not comply-'"

"Fine, fine, whatever. He's an especially unlucky dumbass with no friends, so I help him out through the day, make things a little easier, mess with some heads a bit to get him some friends, mess with his head a bit to make him happier, and bam, he's a happy little fucker," Vanitas smirked at her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

She nodded, "And the subject's end?"

Vanitas shrugged, "He does what I want, mostly. And mostly what I want is sex. Getting some from me—doesn't sound like a bad deal, now does it?"

She ignored his question, her fingers brushing over the page of her sketchbook once more, before she sat silently for a moment, making a nervous feeling rise in the pit of his stomach, then she turned to look at him once more, "One more question, Vanitas. How long will the contract with the subject last?"

He sighed, leaning back in his seat as he turned his eyes too look out into space, "You should know that by now. You know what I told him already."

She nodded, and then turned back to her sketchbook, "Eternity it is then," He felt his shoulders fall in relief as her heard her sketchbook gently shut.

"The record has been submitted, the contract is recognized."

* * *

"Ven," The blonde looked up from his seat on the couch, snapping out of his gazing at the ceiling to see his twin standing beside him, "What are you doing?"

"Um… nothing?" Ven mumbled, pushing himself off the couch, "Uh, what time is it?"

Roxas frowned in concern, but turned towards the clock anyways, "9:50… are you sure you're feeling okay?"

Ven nodded, attempting to give a reassuring smile to his brother, "Yeah, yeah, how, uh, was your date with Sora?"

Roxas' face reddened slightly, a stubborn scowl forming, "Fine, it was… whatever…"

Ven smirked, "Heh, yeah, alright. 'Fine.'"

The other blonde cocked his head to the side, frowning again, "What?"

He shrugged, "Nothing, never mind. I'm going to take a shower, alright?" He quickly walked over to the stairs, jogging up them and leaving Roxas to stand in the living room in confusion, chewing his lip in concern. There was something strange about Ven lately, really strange, in the way he was acting all day… He shrugged it off though; it was probably just a bad day or… good or something. He couldn't tell exactly, either way, though, things would probably be back to normal tomorrow, right?

No.

Ven stood outside the bathroom door, his heart pumping too quickly for his ribs to handle as he knew what would happen soon on the other side of that door. He had to go in though, because he had to face Vanitas… right? Then again, he could just go hide in the closet down the hall… it didn't seem like too bad an idea…

"You gonna go in, or what?" His shoulders tensed as the familiar voice, and now a familiar smell, made itself known over his shoulder. He heard a sharp, biting, teasing chuckle in his ear, his fists tightening as the warm breath rushed over his ear, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin, causing a disturbed shiver rush up his spine, causing lava to boil in the pit of his stomach.

He reached for the handle to the bathroom, turning it slowly and pushing it open lightly. He gazed into the bathroom quietly, eyes traveling over the sterile white tiles, the blue shagged placemat on the floor—an old, ugly piece of shit that everyone was too lazy to throw away. The shower curtain was closed; the childish fishes that swam over their surface clicked in his mind, bringing him back to his childhood, to the good old toddler years, to the days where his heart beat normal and his breathing didn't hurt.

The porcelain toilet was positioned beside the tub, the doily on top of the back, he couldn't remember it being there once in his life, but it suddenly stood out so clearly to him, like, 'how could I have ever missed it?' And finally the sink, with its leaky faucet, the reason they would even keep the door shut to the bathroom, so they wouldn't have to listen to the sound of the 'drip, drip, drip' all night.

The 'drip, drip, drip' was like a gong in his ears.

His body moved on its own, without his consent, he felt his body shift forward, slowly taking a step into the bathroom. From then on, everything just blurred together, and he remembered his resolution to not let it happen again, but his mouth wasn't working. It was like something restraining him, like something choking the words out of his throat.

He felt Vanitas brush past, saw him walk over to the shower and reach behind the curtain to turn it on. Ven's head slowly turned, taking a glance into the mirror over the sink, sitting perfectly across from him, his hand reaching up to tug the handkerchief from his neck, his Adam's apple bobbing as he gulped heavily at the site of gears on his neck turning.

That was so fucked up.

* * *

Roxas yawned as he heard the shower turn on upstairs, glancing at his cell phone for a moment to check the time before quickly walking over to the front door. He swung it open just in time to see Sora grinning at him from the stoop, hand half raised and ready to knock, "Damn, now that's service."

Roxas rolled his eyes, pulling the brunette in and dragging him towards the stairs, "Ven's in the shower, so we can go in the spare bedroom."

Sora raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh, Roxie feeling a little freaky tonight?"

The blonde turned to frown at him, about to snap back a retort when his foot slipped on the notorious fifth step, causing him to head face first for the steps before arms wrapped around his chest and waist. He yelped, his hands gripping those around him as he was pulled back onto his feet, making him go red a bit as he felt himself pulled against the one behind him, "Uh, thanks Sor, you can let go now though."

"It's just telling you how happy it is to see you though!"

"Yeah, it's very happy, I get it, congrats. Now if you don't let me go, I'll make sure that it'll never be happy ever again," He muttered under his breath threateningly, smirking as he felt Sora's hands retract and was able to move away from him, climbing up the rest of the stairs.

Quietly, he heard Sora mumble nearly silently, "Not after tonight…"

"What?" Ven asked, walking down the hall towards his parent's room, but Sora just grinned at him.

_**LINE**_

Ven let his eyes fall shut, concentrating on his breathing, his arms shaking as he felt fingers brush up his stomach, his t-shirt being lifted with them, higher and higher, his breathing becoming shorter and shorter the further it went. Lips began placing small touches against his skin, touching the gear on his neck carefully, making him suck his breath in sharply from its sensitivity, from the spark of heat that shot through him with the touch. The fingers brushed over him slowly, bringing his shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor, and they returned to his hips.

The lips went back to their touches, creating light suction against his collarbone, nipping gently up to his Adam's apple, Ven let his teeth dig into his bottom lip until they touched there too. The lips covered his persistently, prying his apart until the tongue could slip in his mouth. He let his eyes open slightly, squinted as he stared at the golden eyes parallel with his.

Vanitas pulled away from him, "Our contract was recognized—your soul is mine."

Ven's eyebrows furrowed together, "What? No—I don't want it anymore, stop it."

He smirked, pressing his forehead to the other's, "It's too late to go back on the contract… You are mine, Ventus, you belong to me now."

His eyes squeezed shut, his fists clenching, his brain screamed, but then the hands were gone from his waist, "But… We have eternity. So, I don't have to collect your part of the debt just yet…"

His eyes snapped open in shock, but only saw the empty bathroom now.

"Why?"

* * *

Roxas nibbled lightly at Sora's ear lobe as the other teen's hand traveled lower on his body, down his bare chest towards his pants, just to be slapped away quickly, "No."

Sora groaned impatiently, whining quietly to his boyfriend, "But Roxie… I _need_ you. I love you so much, please."

"I just don't want…" Sora pulled away to look down at the blonde, his blue eyes wide as he stared down at the boy, furrowing his eyebrows together in disappointment. Roxas paused, sighing deeply and turning his eyes down, instead focusing on the crown pendant that hung from the brunette's neck, the glint it gave in the dim lighting of the room, "It's too soon."

"Don't worry about it…" Sora breathed, leaning down over him again, letting his hands move back to roam the blonde's chest and tease him absent-mindedly, "The world isn't going to end if we do it, no one will be upset… In fact, I think we'll be even happier."

"But," Roxas muttered, moving his hands to push the other's hands away, but Sora twisted his grip around to hold the others hands, bringing them up above the blonde's head and hold them there gently, leaning down to peck lightly at his neck, "B-But, Sora, I just—I don't—please stop, I don't want to."

Sora paused, rising a bit slowly to give Roxas a long, warm kiss, making the blonde melt into the sensation of their lips pressing together. He felt the brunette sigh, could feel his warm breath run across his face, and then he pulled away, releasing his hands, "Alright."

He continued kissing gently down the blonde's jaw, to his neck, continuing lower to his collarbone, running along it to gently suck at the hollow in the middle, making Roxas moan lightly, "Sor, I thought you were going to sto—OW! What the fuck was that?!"

Sora's head popped up, grinning brightly, "Noooothing."

Roxas' hand jumped to cover the spot where Sora had bitten (more like ate) him, his jaw hanging open in shock, "Don't 'nooooothing' me, you fucking asshole! What were you trying to do?! Fucking eat me?!"

Sora snorted, "Well, not exactly, but I can eat you out if you really want to, you know what I'm saying?"

Roxas glared at him, moving to sit up in his bed and pushing him out of the way, "Alright, whatever, fucking pervert, you're a fucking cannibal now, too, great. I'm not into the angry, painful sex, I'll tell you that right now."

Sora's eyebrows hopped up and down, the grin still on his face, "Hey, don't knock it until you try it."

Roxas stared at him, and Sora just grinned back at him, until finally the blonde grabbed his shirt off the bed and pulled it over his head, "Alright, time to go home, I'll see you tomorrow."

The brunette's head bounced up and down happily, strangely happily seeing as how he had been turned down for sex that night, but Roxas wasn't going to complain about him not being all pouty or pissed about it. He jumped up and wrapped his arms around his hips, pulling the blonde against him and giving him another long kiss, pulling away to rest their foreheads together, staring into the frosty eyes in front of him, "I do love you, you know."

Roxas' eyebrows furrowed together, "Yeah, I know… I love you, too."

Sora's smile lit up as he pulled away, giving him another quick peck on the forehead before starting to head towards the door, "See you soon, Roxie, I'll see myself out!"

The blonde frowned at that, wondering why Sora was acting so strangely to him, not in a bad way exactly, but just strange… He shrugged it off though, fixing bed so that it wouldn't look like they had been in there, and then headed back to his and Ven's room. Sneaking in, he spotted his brother lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling blankly, his hair wasn't even wet. Walking in awkwardly, he sighed as he walked over to his dresser and began picking out his pajamas, glancing over his shoulder to see his brother still staring blankly at the ceiling, "Hey, are you dead?"

Ven seemed to jump suddenly at the sound of his voice, his eyes shifting over to rest on his brother's back as the blonde dressed, "Oh, um, sorry, zoned-out."

Roxas nodded, then turned back to his dressing, slipping his tank-top on, "Yeah, it's alright, man."

Ven sighed, rolling onto his side and curling up a bit before turning off the light beside his bed, "Goodnight."

"Yeah, night," Roxas replied, biting his lip before turning to head towards his bed. His eyes caught on the mirror on the wall across from him, particularly a black spot just above the line of his tank-top, right where Sora had bit him.

He frowned, wondering for a second if it would just be a bruise, but bruises didn't turn that dark that fast… He reached over to it to rub it gently; wincing as he felt it was sensitive to touch. Scowling to himself, he started to mentally curse Sora and his dumb hormones and sex drive before he pulled down the collar to take a closer…

He rubbed the area; his eyebrows jumping up helplessly as he stared at the mark… it looked like a crown.

Like the crown pendant Sora wears…


	4. Comes Around

Ven's eyes snapped open suddenly, his breath catching as the world seemed to rock uneasily underneath him, making him roll over violently and dry-heave. His throat was burning, his eyes stinging, and his mind pounding as his eyes continued to spin the world all over for him.

The darkness in the room veiled the contents, everything seeming much softer in the lack of light, but misleading him. He flinched as his nightmare flashed through his mind again, and he threw himself out of the bed, rushing towards the door, about to rush into the bathroom to dry-heave more, but froze in his spot as he remembered what had occurred earlier that night in there. He leaned back against the wall, clammy hand covering his mouth as the cool plaster came into contact with his burning skin, then stumbled towards the stairs.

He didn't fear falling down them anymore, he had no reason to, he wouldn't fall, because Vanitas was upholding his side of the contract… and he would have to pay-up with his side sooner or later…

* * *

"Sora…" Naminé spoke gently, her voice causing cold shudders to chill his spine, his normally bright grin duller with his anxious and nervous position in the white office chair across from her. Her doll-like eyes stared directly ahead at him, her face stoic, her voice unforgiving, her presence transparent… and all-consuming.

"Naminé… How's it going?" He chuckled awkwardly, the silence following his good-natured question making him gulp down his need to scream and run as far from the nerve-wracking girl as possible… but really, that would be over-reacting… just a little.

She opened her sketchbook to a blank page, her gentle blonde bangs falling in front of her eyes as she peered down at the page, her fingertips brushing across it softly, "You have made a claim on one human subject that goes by the name of Roxas. What have you to say for yourself?"

Sora's head slowly turned to look around the pure white room, the haze of bright light causing him to squint slightly; it was way too bright for any good, "Um… He's hot?"

Naminé stared at him, then sighed and turned her attention back to the sketchbook, "Unless a valid reason for marking the subject is presented, then you will be ordered to take your mark off him immediately. New law, as ordered by Ansem the Wise, states that all demon's with marks on humans must give valid reasoning for the mark, and then must pass a test of competency, in which they will be judged for their ability to responsibly care for the subject and not abuse their control over the subject."

Sora's head cocked to the side, "Whaaaaat? When did he come up with all that shit? I just marked someone last year, and I wasn't even called in about that! Why's it so important now?!"

"Yes, the subject you marked last year, a human known by the name of Kairi-"

"Hey, yeah, um, could you tell me where she is? I kind of lost track of her…" He trailed off as Naminé stared at him dully, a frown on her face, "… Would that be a no?"

"… Due to the large amount of demons placing their marks on humans and then abandoning their humans, Ansem the Wise has made the ruling that demons should take responsibility of their subjects and care for them. Or, at least, know of their location in the world. I have judged at this meeting here for you to take your mark off all your subjects."

Sora's jaw dropped, "No!" Naminé's head snapped up suddenly, her glare as toxic as poison, making him jump back nervously, "I-I mean, can't I do something else? I'll take my mark off Kairi, she deserves better and she probably doesn't want anything to do with me now anyways. But isn't there a way to keep it on Roxas?"

Her eyes narrowed, her frown deepening, "For the demon to mark a subject, the demon must have proper permission from a ranked witch. The witch deems a subject worthy of a demon's mark by the reasons a demon presents to a witch of how the demon would benefit from the mark. Equally, the witch must also take into consideration how the placement of a mark on the subject will affect the human world and interests. If the mark appears to be harmful (the definition of harmful being filled by the witch's own idea of what would be harmful), then the mark will be rejected."

"Um… Well…" Sora bit his lip as his eyes darted around the white surroundings, trying to think of an excuse to keep his mark on Roxas, "What if I said that my mark was placed there to help me form a contract with him?"

"A contract between a subject and a demon must be formed by both parties entering the contract willingly-"

"Yeah, yeah, tell Vanitas that."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing, give me a second… Uh," Sora shifted nervously, crossing his arm as his leg started to bounce, "Can you give me an example of what would be a valid reason for putting a mark on a demon then? According to these dumb new rules that Ansem keeps coming up with?"

Naminé nodded quietly, turning a page in her sketchbook to brush her fingers over the page, then looked back up to the brunette, "Two days ago, a demon marked a subject for the purpose of using the subject as an accountant, a source of income, and a personal maid."

Sora frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together angrily, "So… as a slave, basically."

"Yes."

"… What if I said I wanted Roxas to be my slave, also?"

"You would be ordered to remove your mark from him."

"But—you just—what the hell?!" Sora threw his arms up, brushing his fingers through his hair in frustration, "What do I have to say to make you agree to leave my mark on him?!"

Naminé turned her page back, to the original page she had opened for Sora, "What will the subject receive as compensation for having your mark?" Sora's hands fell to his lap with a smack, staring at the witch with a dumfounded expression. She just stared back with the same stoic expression, "I'm in support of the humane treatment of humans."

Sora ignored the irony of that statement and sighed loudly, "… I'll make him happy."

She frowned, "How?"

"He loves me," He grinned, crossing his arms behind his head cheerily as he leaned back again, "He said so right after I put that mark on him… He's different. I… I won't lose him, not like I lost Kairi."

She hesitated, staring at him for a few more moments, then slowly reached down to brush her fingers against the page again before gently closing the sketchbook, "The record has been submitted, the marking of the human subject 'Roxas' has been approved."

* * *

His eyes suddenly snapped open, being awakened to a conscious state so suddenly was entirely unpleasant, but something had taken him from a complete dead sleep to wide-awake in under 5 seconds. And then a sinking feeling lowered in his chest, and he suddenly felt a tightening pressure around his neck, making him reach up immediately to clutch at his neck, but grasping nothing there.

The pressure remained, slightly tight, but not too tight, leaving him to lay there silently in bed in slight fear. He lowered his hand from where it had been resting on his neck, and placed it beside him, letting his eyes drift around the room for evidence of what possibly that had been all about, but finding nothing in its emptiness… Not even Ven.

He sat up in bed and glanced over to his alarm clock, eyes widening as he realized they were late for school… by three hours. While part of him immediately went into a small panic at that, the other part began to rationalize whether it was worth even going to school anymore, but both parts realized they were wrong when he noticed it was still dark out. He looked across the room to Ven's alarm clock to see it said it was an hour before they would normally wake up… figures his clock would be wrong.

He grumbled to himself, sitting up to mess with his clock until he eventually figured out how to correct the time, and then stood and began picking out clothes to change into after his shower. He vaguely wondered where Ven was, but shrugged it off as he walked into the bathroom, turning the shower on and stripping off his tank-top just to pause and glance over at the mirror. Face turning worried as he noticed the crown-shaped mark was still there, as dark as the moment he had discovered it yesterday.

After hopping in the shower, he grabbed some of the body wash and poured it on his neck and upper chest, rubbing furiously over the area of the mark, until his skin began to sting, and then got out again, just to sigh as he saw it was still there. He redressed again, his heart beating faster as he wondered how that mark had gotten there, and why it wasn't coming off when he began to rationalize that it was probably just a really bad bruise… from… when Sora and him were making out? Maybe he pressed against him too hard?

Bull shit, but it was explanation enough for him to believe in.

Adjusting the shirt so that the "bruise" wouldn't show, he trampled down the stairs, cursing as the fifth step caught him again, and then stood from the floor to begin to head to the kitchen. Passing by the back of the couch to get to the threshold to the kitchen, he caught sight of a lump on the couch out of the corner of his eye, making him turn his head to get a better look at his twin laying, all curled up in the corner of the couch. He rolled his eyes, walking up behind the piece of furniture slowly to look down at the other blonde. Beginning to reach over, he was about to shake him awake when his eyes also caught onto the black shape of a broken gear on his brother's neck.

He would've thought it was a tattoo if he hadn't known there was no way in hell Ven would get one, so instead he just stared at it in shock, trying to figure out what the hell it was. It wasn't a tattoo, it was too dark to be a strange looking bruise, and… and the way Ven was breathing made it look like the two halves were turning… that is just because of the way Ven is breathing… right?

He turned his attention away from the strange mark, shaking his brother up and quickly spinning around to head straight to the kitchen, "Hey, time to get up."

Ven's eyes slowly cracked open, the blonde groaning as he felt his eyes burn at the work of facing the morning, his head flashing back to the night before. After he had woken up and rushed out of his room, and found he couldn't go into the bathroom, he had just paced in the living room for most of the night, well into the morning, giving him only one or two hours of sleep after he finally passed-out on the couch.

Groaning to himself, he pushed himself off the couch and turned to begin to walk up the stairs, slipping on the fifth step suddenly. It was like that legendary moment where everything in the world slowed down… except that it was moving in slow motion AFTER hitting his jaw against the stairs, rolling down the steps for a rough landing on the hardwood floor at the bottom. He heard Roxas drop whatever he had been doing in the kitchen, rushing out to him, the other teen kneeling beside him as he groaned again, "Oh, shit, Ven, what the fuck happened?! Son of a bit—I-I'm going to, uh, call an ambulance, oh, God…"

He heard him rushing around, heard something else crash, but really his mind was mostly focused on the pain in his mouth and lips, and the taste of something really warm and coppery in his mouth, dripping over his chin. He brought a hand up to his mouth, touching it lightly to wince at the shock of pain that sparked through it, pulling his fingers away to see blood coating them.

That… was not good.

What the fuck happened to that whole "fix all your problems" shit that Vanitas had told him about, huh?! This was a HUGE problem here!

He made a move to start sitting up, placing his other—not bloody—hand on the floor to support his weight, just to whimper at the pure pain that ripped at his nerves there, shooting up his arm and making him pull away to cradle his wrist softly.

"Ven! Just, uh, just lie down and hold still, the ambulance is coming—oh shit, that's a lot of fucking blood."

Ven slowly turned his head slightly to look up at his brother, Roxas kneeling beside him again, a cell phone in his shaking hand as he stared at Ven wide-eyed. It made Ven's eyes widen just as much, not from the actual fear in his brother's expression, but the cell phone, making him mutter to him, because his jaw hurt like a fucking bitch now that he tried to move it, "—ahnitus…"

"What?" Roxas leaned forward, but flinched back as Ven just snatched the phone away from him, ignoring how he got his blood smeared across the device, and flipped it open, attempting to text with one hand to the best of his abilities.

"_Vanitas,"_ Roxas read, his eyebrow rising as he took back the phone, Ven's bloody hand going back to cradle his wrist once again, "What? Who's that?"

Ven rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone again, with even more anger than before (although, admittedly, he really wasn't angry with his brother, but Vanitas), scrolling through the contacts until he stopped at Sora's name… Maybe he should have gotten Vanitas' number… Do demons have cell phones?

"You want me to call Sora?" Ven nodded slightly, wincing as it hurt a bit, before Roxas shook his head, "I'll call him later, alright? I think you should focus on your fucking **blood** pouring out of your fucking **mouth** right now, alright?!"

Like summoned by the statement of an injury, the door slammed open for paramedics to rush in, all of them sniffing out the smell of Ven's blood like hounds and rushing over to him. One of them shoved Roxas to the side to grab Ven roughly and move him over something, and before he could really recognize what the hell was going on, he had been pushed to a lying down position and they were rushing him out of the house.

Roxas stared after them in shock, then quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him as he ran out onto the front lawn to see the back of the ambulance being shut, and then his eyes caught onto the sight of Sora's car and an unfamiliar jeep slowing down and pulling over to the side as the ambulance rushed off. He ran across the lawn to Sora's car, the brunette climbing out of it with a concerned look on his face as some of the people in the jeep behind him also began climbing out.

"Rox-"

"Take me to the hospital!" Sora nodded slowly, about to jump back in his car when Riku came running over in their direction.

"Ven?" He yelled, walking towards Roxas, "What's going on?"

Roxas shook his head quickly, already moving around the car to jump in the passenger's seat, "Ven's in the ambulance!"

Riku spun around and jumped into the backseat of Sora's car, waving off Terra back in the jeep. Sora pressed on the gas to begin driving towards the hospital, looking over to Roxas nervously, his eyebrows furrowed together anxiously, "What happened to Ven?"

He sighed and chewed on his lip nervously, moving to wipe his sweaty hands on his jeans, grimacing as he realized he had actually just smeared blood over them, "Um, I was in the kitchen, and Ven had been sleeping on the couch last night for some reason, I don't know, and there had been a really loud slam out there, louder than most of our accidents make, and it made me drop the pan and eggs, so I went out there to see what happened and… There was blood on the fucking _stairs_. I-I don't know, I think he slipped on that fucking fifth step—shit! I slipped on it last night, remember?! That could've happened to me! Mother fucker, we've never had that happen any other time we slipped on it! There was just all this blood coming out of his mouth, and he had looked like he passed out for a second…"

Sora glanced over to him, patting his leg reassuringly, "Hey, Rox, calm down, he'll be okay, it was just bad timing."

"What are you talking about?" Roxas grumbled, bringing his hands up to run through his hair anxiously, but then remembering he might get blood in his hair since there was still some on his hands, and so dropped them back to his pants. Sora didn't answer him, instead pretending to focus back to the road, making Roxas roll his eyes and look around, instead, to the silver-haired teen in the back, "Uh… do you know Ven?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm Ven's friend, Riku," He nodded at the blonde, who nodded back hesitantly; trying to remember a time when Ven had mentioned Riku… he came up with nothing. Then he remembered that hickey he had seen a couple days ago on Ven's neck, was Riku _that_ kind of friend? Or were there more people that Ven was friends with that Roxas had never known about.

The name Vanitas snapped into his head, suddenly remembering Ven typing the name into his phone and telling him to call Sora. He turned to his boyfriend, his look turning more concerned, "Um, Sor, do you know someone named 'Vanitas?'"

Sora jumped, his eyes widening as he turned quickly to glance at Roxas and then back to the road, "How'd _you_ hear about him?"

"Ven asked for him, after you know…"

The brunette shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he took a quick turn into the hospital parking lot and found the closest parking space, stomping on the breaks much too suddenly and causing everyone in the car to jolt as they stopped. He turned the car off and rushed out of the car, looking back to see Roxas staring at him in surprise, "Well, c'mon!"

Riku jumped out after Roxas, all of them quickly walking over to the entrance of the hospital.

* * *

"_You are such a fucking asshole, Vanitas. What the hell did you think you were doing? Your contract is supposed to be protecting the guy, isn't it? Collect your fucking debt before his bad luck gets any worse and he ends up dead."_

Vanitas huffed as he snapped his phone shut, silencing the sound of his brother's pissed-off rant, the sun setting behind him as he walked towards the hospital with a small smug smirk on his face.

He was _such_ an asshole… and he loved being one.

But now Ventus wouldn't hold out on him anymore! Not as long as he knows that if he doesn't meet the conditions of his side of the contract, that Vanitas can't uphold his side either, and the person the contract is waiting on is actually punished. What a pain in the ass that could be, huh? But Vanitas did so love that. Ven probably thought he had been being sweet to him the night before or something…

Okay, so he was kind of being "sweet" to him the night before. He could have just raped the kid again, but if they do it this way… well, at least he'll be willing this time, right? Or rather, less resistant… Whatever, he'll work out the technical stuff some other time, what mattered right now was that he had to go to the hospital, get Sora to get everyone out of Ven's room, have sex with Ven, heal his little boo-boos, and then get the hell out of there. Hospitals gave him the creeps.

Suddenly, his cell phone began ringing again, making him look down at the screen and role his eyes in annoyance and flip it open, "What do you want, Xion? I'm busy."

"_And I don't give a shit if you're busy, you're going to do what I say and you're going to do it as soon as possible. See how that works? I'm in charge of you and your fucking brother, so when you two ass-wipes go around fucking with things, __**I **__am the one who gets in trouble. And if __**I'm**__ in trouble—you two will be in a fucking lava pit by tomorrow morning if you don't __**stop fucking around**__."_

Vanitas sneered to himself, rolling his shoulder in irritation, "Get to the point."

"_I should stab your liver with a dart until you scream for mercy, mother fucker… Okay, now listen closely. I got a call from Naminé not less than 2 minutes ago saying that you are being given a warning for __**several misdemeanors.**__ Misdemeanors such as: revealing your true nature and identity to a human before making a bond with them, using your powers obviously and blatantly in front of unauthorized humans, creating a contract with a human before consulting the ruling witch of the region-"_

"Are you getting to your point anytime soon? Because you're wasting my phone bill with this call if not, I know you don't have Verizon."

"_FUCK VERIZON AND YOUR PHONE BILL! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DO WHAT I FUCKING SAY RIGHT NOW!" _Vanitas continued to grimace as he turned the corner and saw the hospital's entrance, sighing to himself, _"Now listen to me, bitch, one of these misdemeanors is that you allowed your human to break the contract. I'm not sure exactly how you let him break his contract, or why the fuck you would, but now that little pussy is in the hospital and Naminé is NOT a happy camper. She a human sympathizer, you dumbass! As long as she is the ruling witch of the region, you have to treat that little dipshit in the hospital like a fucking prince, or switch regions!_

"_Before you do either of these things though, so that Naminé does not report me, OR void your contract with that bitch in the hospital, you will go to him, and have him fill in his part of the contract. Got that? Good. Now DO IT."_

Vanitas smirked as he thought of the sexual innuendo that could be implied with that last statement, then chuckled, "Yes, ma'am, talk to ya later, muffin!" He snapped the phone shut before she could snap back about the nickname, and stepped into the hospital, glancing around before seeing Sora by the waiting room to the side. He slowly walked over towards the brunette, who looked away from the TV to frown at him when he reached his side. Sora just sighed at him, and then turned and began walking down the hall, Vanitas following after him, "Aw, don't be like that, So, you know I wouldn't intentionally hurt him."

Sora rolled his eyes, glowering at him from the corner of his eyes, "No, instead you'd mislead him and let Karma be the bitch here. You brought it about though, so this is your responsibility. You know how freaked out Roxas is?"

Vanitas shrugged slightly, tilting his head to the side curiously, "How bad was it?"

The brunette snorted at him, turning a corner and hitting a button for the elevator, both of them surprised when one dinged almost immediately, but they ran inside quickly anyways. Sora continued to glower at him as he hit the fifth button, "He fractured his jaw, so they put bandages on his chin for some reason and they told him to not talk much. A couple of his teeth were cracked and his gums are bruised or something, but a dentist has to deal with that, and until then he can only eat through a straw. He split the insides of his cheeks, too, must've bit them or something, and even though a dentist probably should've done that, too, the doctors stitched them up. He nearly broke his wrist somehow, that's in a brace and… um, no, I think that's it."

Vanitas shrugged, looking over at Sora, who shrugged back at him, "That's not actually that bad, when you think what _could_ have happened."

Sora glared at him, "It's what _could_ have happened that we don't want to think about."

His brother huffed, turning away and crossing his arms in irritation, "Alright, alright, I get it, I won't screw around with the contract business anymore."

"Damn right, you won't. You get the call from Xion already?" Sora looked over to Vanitas to see him sneering at the elevator doors, "I'll take that as a 'yes…'"

The doors opened with a ding, the two brothers rushing out of it, nearly knocking an old lady over as they exited, but all she could do was curse and wave her cane at them a bit, so they ignored her and continued to speed walk around the corner. Vanitas sighed slowly and then shoved his hands in his pockets, "So I'll need you to get everyone out of the room and keep them busy for awhile. Tell Riku to go home or something, and take Roxas out to dinner, Ven and I will meet you guys there, just text me where you two are in about an hour or two."

Sora raised an eyebrow at him, "You need two hours to do _that_ with him?"

Vanitas barked a quick chuckle, "I gotta convince the doctors he's made a miracle recovery, too, dumbass."

The brunette smirked and halted, Vanitas nearly walking past him before he glanced at the door he was at, then turned the handle and opened it, gesturing for his brother to go, "Please, after you."

Sora chuckled, "What a gentleman, too bad I know you're really a douche," Vanitas just sneered at him. They stepped inside the room, Vanitas sticking behind him, to the wall, as he looked over to the blonde laying in the bed. Ven was sleeping right now, probably something they gave him to reduce the pain… That would probably come in more useful than they originally planned.

Beside the bed, Roxas sat, his eyes immediately locking onto Sora in worry before they flickered over to Vanitas, surprise coming over his face as he just seemed to notice he was there. What was really surprising was that he noticed him at all, Vanitas was intentionally trying to hide himself, and normal humans never noticed him when he was trying. Riku was standing at the foot of the bed, a couple feet from him, closer than Roxas, and hadn't noticed he was there at all. Sora must have marked him, only humans with marks would become that aware of a demon's presence… He wonders if Sora had explained the whole demon thing yet—probably not, he was known to be flaky about his choices, and usually didn't even stick with them long enough to tell them what he really was.

Of course, that might be for the best, because now that is apparently also against one of Ansem's ridiculous laws, unless they had formed a _"bond."_ However the fuck they're defining a "bond."

"Riku," Sora let his hand rest on the taller teen's shoulder, smiling up reassuringly to the silver-haired teen, "You should probably be getting home—it's getting kind of late. You need a ride?"

Riku looked surprised for a second, and then shook his head, turning to nod at Roxas, and then exited the room quietly. Vanitas frowned at his brother, slightly angry at how accustomed to mind control his brother had become. It wasn't that it bugged him too much, but if he got so used to just controlling everyone's head, he'd become one of those dumb bimbos that just got everything they wanted handed to them through the humans. Those demons were always really annoying, really spoiled, and just horrible to be around.

Sora ignored him, turning to Roxas and walking over to kiss his boyfriend gently on the forehead, "Hey, why don't we go get something to eat? You haven't eaten anything today."

Roxas continued to stare at him strangely though, his eyes burning into Vanitas' being uncomfortably, making him glare back at the blonde, "What are you looking at?"

"Are _you_ Vanitas?" Roxas suddenly asked, scowling as Vanitas just shrugged back at the blonde, "How do you know my brother?"

"None of your business, now is it?" Vanitas smirked at him, his eyes glinting mischievously as he saw how upset Roxas was getting just from his presence. If he knew he would piss the guy off so much, he would've introduced himself earlier.

He opened his mouth to retort instantly, but Sora's arm wrapped around his waist suddenly, turning him towards the door and leading him out, "C'mon Rox, you gotta get some food in ya, and some rest, you're tired."

Before Sora closed the door behind him, he gave Vanitas _the look_.

You know, the one where it makes you feel like shit somehow, even though you reason that you didn't really do anything wrong? Except: here's the catch… He not only got the look…

But, from the moment he saw Ven in that bed, he had already felt guilty.


	5. Easy to Begin, Hard to End

**_A/N: Most changes are stemming from this chapter, from now on things are going to change a lot more from the previous way the story went._**

* * *

_Vanitas snickered as he watched Sora peak around the corner before turning back to walk further into the alley with him. The sound of the city around them was loud, life breathing out of every corner of a city that was bathed in light. You would think as demons they would feel uncomfortable here, but rather it was like they were standing before an all you can eat buffet._

_And for years that's how they had been treating it. Ignoring the sounds of a couple kids playing out on the sidewalk, just around the corner from their alley, he smirked at his brother as he approached. He couldn't help it, this was like a demon's worst nightmare, but watching his brother being paranoid over a __**human girl**__ was hilarious._

_Sora quickly walked up to him, stopping at his side to glare at his smirk, then turned away, "Well? Why do we have to be here? I told you I was avoiding this town until all the attention died down."_

"_Awww, what's the matter? Is Sora scared of a little human girl? Is she scary?"_

_Sora stiffened, but still didn't look at him, "Shut up. She's not even human anymore, she's a monster." Vanitas just laughed, making Sora glare at the wall, "Well? What'd you want me out here for?"_

"_You gotta wait for it, she's still playing around right now."_

_Sora finally met his eyes, frowning at him in confusion, "What's that supposed to mean?"_

_Vanitas just kept smirking though, "What do you think that means? She's young, she wants attention, what do you think she's going to do?"_

_Eyes widening, Sora spun around and sprinted out of the alley, looking up and down the street as Vanitas walked up behind him casually. It was quiet, that quiet that you knew wasn't natural, that quiet that made you realize it was too late. It felt heavy in the air, much too heavy for a beautiful city like Radiant Gardens, much too painful for a city like this._

_Sora clenched his hands into fists as his eyes just continued to run up and down the street, Vanitas giving one long drawn-out whistle before chuckling lowly, "I have to admit, you pick them good. Xion is going to be pissed though."_

_Biting down on his lip, he shut his eyes tight and let out a built up sigh, like trying to relieve himself of all this. It didn't work, obviously, and when his eyes opened again to look back onto the street, back onto the bodies that laid lifeless over the sidewalk and in their cars and in the windows…_

"_She's not human anymore, she's just a monster."_

* * *

Vanitas stepped closer to the hospital bed, his breath held tightly in his chest as he looked down at the pale blonde, a deep frown forming over his mouth. He let his eyes run over the body in front of him, being unabashedly relieved that he couldn't see most of the injuries, but inside his mouth… It must be a painful sight, inside Ven's mouth.

He let his eyes narrow suddenly, focusing on the fluttering of the closed eyelids, the slight twitches in the long fingers, the way his face somehow managed to look distraught without showing any real expression, then it clicked in his head, this is what the humans called, "dreaming." It was like a movie-theater in their heads, although what movie they were watching wasn't always entertaining or pleasant at all.

He shifted slightly, from heel to heel, and then let his hand reach out to the bandaged one laying flat on the bed, cupping his wrist before letting darkness wrap all around the injured limb. He pulled away the darkness when he was finished, tugging at the strange clamps on the bandage until he finally figured out how to get the damn thing off, and then threw it to the other side of the room.

Finished with that, he knew where the rest of the injuries were, and knew that to get to them he would have to wake the sleeping blonde, and he would most likely cause a scene, too… He glanced over to the door, quickly walking over to it to switch the latch on it, hoping that no doctors would randomly decide to visit the poor teen in the bed. Then he turned and meandered over to the windows, slowly pulling the shades closed as he watched the light recede in the room, the light casted over Ven dimming, being blocked out, until he was finally surrounded by darkness…

Damn, did he know how to set the mood or what?

Smirking a bit more to himself, he felt his chest relax from its tight knot a bit, his darker surroundings making it much easier to act on his desire. His golden eyes sparked venomously as he approached the bed casually, letting his fingers drag around the edge, following the outline of the boy's body through the covers, until they finally reached the pillow. He lifted a knee, pulling himself up onto the bed to slip over the blonde, kneeling over the blonde before pressing his hands on either side of Ven's head, pressing into the pillow.

He lowered his head, breathing against the blonde's fluttering eyelids, smirking more at the way the blonde seemed to jump a bit at that, then slowly moved to press their lips together. Nearly immediately, he felt the skin over the blonde's lips healing, but nearly was not close enough at all, the spark of pain that probably came with his pressing against the cut lips most likely started to wake him. He felt the soft groan that left Ven's throat before he heard it, relishing the lewd vibrations that resonated through his chest from the act, then made the move to pry the delicious lips open, slipping his tongue in to explore the moist cavern.

The next groan sounded much more painful than it should have, and he knew immediately that those drugs the doctors must have given him were the only things keeping him from being wide-awake and flipping out right now. Taking advantage of the time he still had, he reached down with his hands, grabbing the hands that were still resting calmly on the bed, and lifted them to pin them against the pillow just where his hands had been.

Ven shifted, making him speed his process, his tongue resting and messaging one side of his cheek until he finally felt the wound heal and the string that the doctors used for stitching come loose. He pulled out, making a dissatisfied face as he slipped the string out of his mouth and threw it to the floor, then turned back to go right back down onto the blonde's lips again, but almost gasped as he saw the lazy blue eyes beginning to blink open slowly. He quickly pushed their lips together again, focusing on the gums and teeth this time, brushing his tongue against as much of them as he could, unable to really tell when the gums were healed as they weren't wounds that he could feel, and so gave and moved on to the other cheek to heal the last wound.

That's when Ven struggled a bit, a shudder of pleasure running down Vanitas' spine as he felt Ven squirm underneath him, a gently whimpering coming from his throat and being swallowed by Vanitas' own mouth. He felt disappointed as the wound finally healed, and he was forced to sit up once more to spit the damn string out once again. Turning back to see Ventus wide awake now, he was surprised to see the blonde staring up at him in an angry manner.

He was right about him being angry though; Ven was pissed as all hell right then, glaring up at those golden eyes before attempting to sit up also to realize that his wrists were pinned to the pillow beneath his head. So he just settled for the glaring for now, "Contract my ass. What happened to fixing all my fucking problems, huh? You're-"

Vanitas shrugged as he cut the boy off, "I can't keep up my side of the deal if you don't, get it? And I should really mention that, when in a contract, if you do not meet up to your part of the bargain, then that bitch, Karma, will take it as her personal duty to make your life miserable until you meet your part… Same with me, too. If you want me to be able to make your life better, I'll need my payment, and I can't help you until then."

Ven scowled deeply, his eyebrows raising helplessly soon though, eyes turning pitiful as he realized the implication behind this, "So… I have to… with you. Or else, I'll keep getting hurt?"

The black haired boy nodded slowly, then sighed, releasing the blonde's wrists, "You liked that day, didn't you? You liked being normal, liked not having all that bad luck around you, having friends, hope. How about I change the terms a bit… It won't be every day, just once a week, but you have to stop resisting. You have to let me in, you have to do whatever I ask, and you have to go out of your way to satisfy me. Deal?"

Ven didn't answer, didn't move, just turned his eyes away from the golden pair melting into his, turning them to the sterile white ceiling as his thoughts sort of jumbled together confusingly. He bit his lip, feeling his head begin to pound, and he took a deep breath to calm down once again. Everything just seems to keep getting worse and worse… But there was one thing that he was grateful for.

For that one day, he had walked around without having to worry about getting into an accident, without having to fear walking into doors and getting concussions, or getting paper cuts, or having a bookcase fall on him and breaking a bone, or getting electrocuted by his phone, or getting shoved into lockers, or getting chased home by rabid dogs, or… And he had made a friend with Riku, and for once he hadn't just moped about Sora not being in love with him all day, and he had actually successfully studied for his hardest classes, and now had hope for passing school…

He was more than grateful for that, he had never had such a good day, and he had never felt so happy, it had been nearly ideal. It had been almost perfect, and there was nothing that he wouldn't do to get it back…

What scared him was the truth in that statement.

* * *

The dim lighting in the restaurant was rather pleasant, the soft sounds of conversation around them reassuring, not over-whelming, and the sunlight outside on the street shining brightly as people and cars passed by.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Sora looked up from the coffee in his hands to his boyfriend, watching the blonde slowly place the sandwich down as he spoke for a moment, just before reaching up to tug down the collar of his t-shirt a bit to show the crown-shaped symbol that had formed on his collarbone. Sora glanced between the symbol, then the blonde's frosty eyes, then back to the symbol, and ended with gazing out the window to the street and taking a nice long sip of his coffee.

He could practically feel Roxas grimace at him, but held strong with his conviction to act nonchalant as possible, making Roxas have to be the one to interrupt his continuous coffee sipping, "What did you do, and how do I get it off?"

The brunette glanced over to the blonde, back down to the symbol, then out the window again, but this time without the coffee sipping. He shrugged, making a surge of anger rush through the short blonde, the teen immediately jumping out of the seat to slam his hands on the table, "You are going to fucking tell me what the hell you did to get this damn thing on my chest, and you are going to tell me why, and you are then going to get it the hell off me."

Sora's eyes widened slightly, staring up at the blonde as he glared down at him, then turned his gaze to around the restaurant where… people were surprisingly uninterested. Wow, really? Roxas nearly yelled that, and all they did was quiet down a bit to give him more volume? Humans were getting worse as time went on, it should be a proven fact by now. A couple centuries ago something would've been done about this, people would be asking them what was going on, there would be concern…

He sighed, nodding for Roxas to sit as the blonde slowly sank back into his seat, the glare still set hard onto his boyfriend. Sora winced as he saw it so intent and focused, making him wonder if Naminé would cancel the mark just from this moment, "Hey, Roxie, calm down a bit…" Roxas looked like he was ready to bite his head off again, making him continue speaking again, quickly, "I must have bruised you yesterday, when we were making-out. Sorry, you should've told me that it hurt, I would have backed off a bit."

He winked at the blonde, Roxas' mouth dropping into a confused frown, his shoulders sinking slowly, "Uh, but… I hadn't felt anything, I-I mean, I didn't think that this was a bruise."

Sora raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side, "It's not? You get yourself inked without telling me? I'm flattered that you would model your first tattoo after my favorite necklace, but you really didn't have to."

Roxas sneered at him, rolling his eyes, "I didn't. It was there last night, after you left, and it's directly over that spot where you bit me. So I want you to tell me what you did-"

"Sir," Roxas jumped a bit, turning suddenly to see a small brunette girl glowering at him, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, your conversation is disturbing other customers."

"W-What?" Roxas' eyes widened as he glanced around the restaurant, turning red as he saw several people staring at them strangely. Indignantly, he picked up his sandwich and started heading towards the door.

Sora grinned as he followed the blonde, letting his control over the minds in the restaurant go as his boyfriend fumed on the sidewalk, "Hey, chill out a bit, alright? What's so horrible about it anyways? It's like walking around with the name of your boyfriend on your arm, except your mark is a symbol, instead."

Roxas just took a giant bite out of his sandwich, glaring at him harshly.

* * *

Ven bit his lip bitterly as he felt Vanitas roll him over onto his stomach, letting his fingers dig into the pillows as he already began to try and imagine being in a different place. Maybe at home, on the couch, with Roxas, watching TV or playing a video game. That idea of his was blown away rather quickly though, the second he felt those fingers drifting over his lower back, a sharp shiver spiked up his spine, making him grit his teeth as he heard the other chuckle behind him.

He felt Vanitas' warm breath rush over the back of his neck, causing a sudden jolt of pleasure through him as his tongue ran over it. He gasped unconsciously, making more chuckles come from the demon, "Told you it would feel better this way… Bet you didn't even know I put that there, did you?"

"What are you talking about?" Ven muttered, "Just hurry up and get this over with."

Vanitas sneered down at the blonde, reaching up to trace the jagged heart-like symbol on the base of the neck, smirking as he watched the way the boy tensed and quaked from his gentle touches of the sensitive area. There was something so satisfying about knowing that only he could have such an effect on the boy, and it was because of the mark he had so skillfully placed on him, out of his sight, practically hidden from other eyes. In fact, to other ordinary, unmarked humans, these marks of his would look merely like hickeys or bruises, making him grin as he thought about this, nipping the vulnerable area a bit and relishing in the way the boy squirmed beneath him. He stopped though, figuring he probably should hurry this up, Sora would be waiting for him and Ven after all, so he glanced down to the hospital gown the blonde had on…

It gave him such easy access…

He reached to his pocket, pulling out the small bottle of lube and spreading it over his fingers, just grinning as Ven shifted beneath him unhappily, then reached down to trace the lower back and over the ass, slowly heading for his entrance. Ven sucked in his breath as he felt the chilly fingers get closer and closer to the spot, making him squeeze his eyes shut in shame once again, flinching a bit as he felt the finger rub over his hole, pressing against him, before slowly entering.

The demon leaned over him, his body heat radiating off him in waves to warm his back, his breath spreading across that one spot on the back of his neck and causing his skin to practically rise, he spoke so lowly, "Just relax for it, it won't hurt so bad this time, alright?"

Ven didn't answer, just let the guy part his legs more, clenching his hands a bit tighter as he felt a second finger move in, in the back of his head he was well aware of the fact that it didn't really hurt like the first time, but it still didn't really matter to him. He flinched a bit from pain when the third finger pushed in, but otherwise stayed still, Vanitas' legs moved between his to keep them parted, he tried not to think about it too hard, the idea all too unpleasant.

Vanitas looked up to the lowest strings on Ven's gown, barely holding the bottom part of the robe together, reaching over with his free hands to tug them lose and apart, using it to spread the pieces a bit further apart. He used his knees to push the teen's legs as far apart as he could manage, and then sighed to himself, figuring that's as good as it would get from this position. He would've thought that hospital sex would be a bit kinkier, but it seemed his partner just wasn't in the mood…

He grinned a bit at his own bull shit, then pulled out his fingers suddenly, causing the blonde to unconsciously gasp at the sudden emptiness and lack of friction. He ignored that though, and unzipped his jeans, pushing them down to his knees as he poured some more lube in his palm and began to lube his member. Finishing quickly enough, he let himself go and reached for the other's hips, lifting them off the bed to be parallel with his junk, grinning at the sound of Ven's whine at the exposure, and then shoved in completely, groaning a bit to himself at the pressured tightness and the sound of Ven's deep moan.

He paused for a moment, letting the boy beneath him become more accustomed to the intrusion, and then began rocking in and out. Ven trembled a bit, biting down harshly on his lip to suppress the sounds attempting to escape his throat, traitorous moans of pleasure racing up his spine to vibrate between his ribs and shake his thumping heart, pushing to get out of his throat. Vanitas was striking that spot inside him, sparks of flashing lights were appearing behind his eyelids, causing him to open his eyes just to deny them, his eyes falling on the bed covers, the way his body was moving back and forth with the way Vanitas pounded into him.

His ears perked at the sound of breathy whimpers, slowly gaining in intensity as they become more desperate moans, causing him to wince as he realized they were coming from him. He heard nothing from Vanitas, at all, not even a grunt, not until Vanitas finally reached around to tease his throbbing member, causing him to groan painfully in need, tensing instinctively and causing the demon to groan in pleasure.

Then, all too suddenly, he felt the end rushing up, the pressured knots in his lower abdomen building all too highly, finally toppling and releasing himself onto the bed beneath him. He felt disconnected for a few moments, his orgasm carrying him in bliss for that time before he felt Vanitas release inside him, the hot, wet seed spilling in him and making him wrinkle his nose in slight disgust.

They remained there, panting for a few minutes, Vanitas pulling out just to stay unmoving as Ven attempted to shift into a more comfortable spot until he gave up, figuring he would never be comfortable as long as he had Vanitas' cum in his ass. That just wouldn't be possible for him. He remained on his stomach as Vanitas finally stood, zipping himself back up and sighing to himself, then looking over to smirk at the blonde in the bed, "Take a shower."

He turned and began walking straight for the door, leaving Ven as the blonde slowly shifted into a sitting position, frowning to himself and shivering as he felt some of the demon's seed drip down his leg. He grimaced and quickly stood, racing to the bathroom, slamming the door open and throwing himself in the shower, nearly tripping over the small ledge there was, but managing to miss it. He flipped the shower switch and flinched violently as ice cold water rushed over him before rapidly turning warm, then turning to scolding hot, soaking the hospital gown to his form as the steam gathering in the small room causing him to feel a little suffocated, his breathing heavy and difficult.

Knees beginning to quake, he turned and stepped out onto the cold tiled floor to reach above the toilet and grab a towel, rushing back into the hot water to let the piece of cloth become as soaked as him. Spreading his legs a bit, he reached down and began to scrub himself harshly, trying to rub away what was left of Vanitas there, biting down on his bottom lip as he felt the disgust rise in his throat, thinking of the way he had felt so good because of him... He sighed roughly as he finally threw the cloth down the shower floor.

Sitting there on his knees, he felt his shoulders start to be the next thing to quake, the trembling spreading to his ribs and heart, a painful, suffocating feeling rising in his lungs as they felt like they were being filled with water… with tears. He felt them pouring from his eyes, turning his face up to have them be washed away as they streamed down. They felt endless, they felt like they were a hidden pain in him gathered there, drowning him…

He jumped as he heard the bathroom door slam open, looking over to see Vanitas staring at him in shock, "What the hell are you doing?! I said take a shower!"

"That's what I'm doing! What does it look like?!" Ven snapped back instantly, his voice cracking a bit and making him immediately turn away in embarrassment, "Get out of here!"

Ven was still trembling, he knew it would be apparent, but he didn't care at the moment, to tell the truth, he just wanted Vanitas to leave, he didn't want the other to keep standing there, he didn't want the other to know the effect that he had on him. The water suddenly turned off though, and he looked up quickly, but a towel was suddenly thrown over his head and face. He could feel Vanitas' presence right in front of him, could feel his hands resting on his head through the soft, dry towel.

"Well, I didn't mean burn yourself on the water. You'll get hurt under that… and you shouldn't be wearing clothes in here either, don't be a dumbass." The hands rubbed the towel over his hair, surprisingly gently, never once letting the remaining bit hanging over his face lift up and reveal him. Ven took that as mercy though… for both of them.

He couldn't stand the thought of the demon seeing him cry again.

* * *

Sora snickered as he looked over to Roxas, the blonde still attempting to pick between one of his favorite thrillers and one of his favorite comedies, the movie buff would eventually turn around for Sora's opinion in the end, so Sora just sat back and watched him. The collar of his shirt had slipped a bit farther down to reveal his mark on the boy's collarbone, and it made his grin suddenly drop.

Maybe he had gotten Roxas to drop the subject for now, but he wouldn't leave it alone forever, that mark will be there until Sora takes it off… and based on how it looks now, he really wasn't planning on taking it off at all... he enjoyed his time with Roxas, the kid wasn't like the others he had marked. And while his experience with Kairi had been unique… he still couldn't really bring himself to come to terms with what had happened, what had went wrong there…

No, he could.

He knew exactly what had happened at that time, and what went wrong.

He went too fast, he got too attached, stayed too long, and explained too much.

So he wouldn't make that same mistake with Roxas, and Roxas wouldn't be like the others, he wouldn't be a short trip, and he wouldn't be a trap like Kairi. He would do everything right this time, he had to, because he didn't think he would last another fall like Kairi. This time, he would take it as slow as Roxas would like, he wouldn't push anything, and he would watch him, be sure he didn't get too close, and while he wouldn't be able to help the staying part, because there was no way he'd be able to flat-out leave now, he could work on the explanation part…

Meaning he wouldn't tell Roxas anything for as long as he could. It would be better that way anyways.

"What do you think?"

Sora looked up in surprise from the sudden question, staring ahead to see Roxas holding up the two DVD's he'd been debating between, before finally grinning, "Oh, um, the funny one, alright? You jump too much when we watch ones with action."

Roxas' face turned sour, "I get into it, alright? Stop making fun of me, jeez."

The blonde turned and started putting away all the DVD's but the DVD Sora chose, before putting the selected DVD in the player, then turned and jumped up onto the couch with the brunette, leaning against his boyfriend slightly as Sora grinned more and wrapped his arm around the teen, pulling him closer.

It was for the best if Roxas didn't know anything anyways…


	6. Life is the Sum of Your Choices

_**I was so indecisive about this chapter, the irony of it didn't hit me until later. Anyways, I've been really busy lately. I've been working 40 hrs a week and going to classes, but I have some time off this week. Anyways, thanks for all the reviews I have gotten, I'm glad to see you guys like the new direction of this story. And to those who didn't read the last version, no worries, I like this one more anyways.**_

_**Again, reviews are appreciated, but I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**_

* * *

The white room was cold, bright, and empty. Empty in both contents and in a sense where it felt void of anything good. Hope, happiness, freedom, all of those feelings died the second you walked into that room.

Vanitas hated walking into that room.

But as he sat in the chair across from Naminé for what must be the millionth time this week, he couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine despite having been exposed to it so many times already. Naminé was staring at her sketchbook, eyes peaceful as they analyzed the pages, images invisible to him created a world of possibilities for her.

For once, most likely the first and last time ever, Vanitas had arranged this meeting, Naminé having not summoned him here. As her eyes closed peacefully for a moment, and then slid open to stare directly at him, he regretted this choice immediately. Last time he would ever arrange a meeting between them, definitely.

Naminé just stared at Vanitas silently, making the golden eyed boy wonder if she was in that trance from before, if she was not staring at him but rather through him, if she was still seeing whatever was in that other world that only existed in her eyes.

Finally, she blinked again, her eyes locking onto his suddenly to reassure Vanitas that she was now recognizing his presence, "You wish to change the terms of your contract with the human Ventus now, correct?"

Her words were quiet, but due to the both physical and non-physical emptiness around them they seemed to echo with a weight against the walls. Vanitas just nodded in response though, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself for this. Naminé had known this was coming from just a couple days ago when she recognized the contract, so Vanitas knew that she already had her decision made. That still wouldn't stop him from trying to bargain though, despite that he had also just found out from Xion the other day that Naminé was actually one of those witches who were getting involved in all of that petty politics of their world… and that she was pro-human.

Meaning she maintained a stance that supported the humane treatment of humans, as ironic an idea of that is. Worse yet, with Ansem the Wise having placed witches in charge of demons, more or less, it meant that many of them were restricting the freedom of demons in their interactions with humans. Like they would place restrictions on the number of humans they could mark, how they treat their humans, the contracts they make with humans, even the time they spend in the human world. All in all, it was a pain in the ass for the demons who knew humans to be nothing more important than a household pet, but 90 percent of the time perceived them as trash on the sidewalk.

Still, he was hoping that Naminé would take this as a chance to completely change the nature of his and Ventus' contract while he was attempting to only make a few alterations.

"We talked about it last night…" Vanitas started, figuring that it would help his case if it seemed like he had gotten consent for the change from Ventus as well, "He's not comfortable with this every night set up we have, it leads to bad situations like yesterday's accident. So after some debate, we decided that once a week would be fine. He submits to me completely once a week, let's make it a Friday, and in exchange I take care of all his problems."

Naminé stared at him for a while, he could only imagine her considering this change in contract and balancing it out to see if it would be truly fair. Glancing down to her book, he sat up straighter as he thought for a moment that she may just accept it as is, but then slumped again as her eyes locked on his. Figures it wouldn't be that easy.

"It leans too much in your benefit, considering the amount of emotional trauma that will be and already has been inflicted on the human…" Holding his breath, Vanitas waited for her to continue, scowling at the idea of 'trauma' as it seemed ridiculous to him. That was some kind of sickness human's got, wasn't it? How was he going to give that to Ventus? Naminé interrupted his thoughts though, finally continuing with her proposal, "Either change your end to better suit what the human will receive, an appropriate amount being you receive compensation about once a month… or you change your end by not simply taking care of the small problems in the human's life, but rather grant any wish he has—that is within your ability to grant, that is."

_Once a month._

"I'll take the second one."

Reaching down to the pages, he watched as her fingertips ran over them carefully, resting at the corner as she looked back up to the demon across from her, "It has been rectified, the contract parameters originally decided on between the demon Vanitas and the human Ventus have been changed. From now on: in exchange for compensation of a sexual nature every Friday until the demon Vanitas deems it satisfying, Vanitas is required to make life comfortable for Ventus along with granting any wish that is within his ability to grant."

Vanitas frowned, staring at the blonde girl for a moment, then leaned forward almost hesitantly, still wondering if this was a question he really wanted to ask, "… You keep saying 'as long as that wish is within my ability to grant' like it's covering my ass. He's just a human, you really think he's going to ask for something that is not within my power to grant?"

Naminé closed her book, setting it parallel with her knees in her lap as she just calmly stared at him. For a moment, Vanitas thought that he must be seeing things, or maybe this room was finally just starting to crack him, because as she sat there she seemed more alive, relaxed and… _content_ than she had ever seemed before. Something that was so small, almost transparent, could hardly have been called a smile, but for a witch it might as well have had a beacon on it.

* * *

Coming to terms with your own disparity is not something easy, it's an agonizing process. It creeps along the sides of your conscious for a while, a small part that you just pretend isn't there. Then one day it finally becomes too much pressure and you realize that there is no other answer other than that, and yet you still cannot quite accept it…

At some point you realize that there is no avoiding it anymore, it simply becomes too much trouble and too tiring to continue making excuses for not just others but yourself as well.

Ven hadn't quite reached that point, but he felt it closing in like a dull dread, as he sat in the back of the taxi and stared at the scenery that would eventually, somehow, in a way that seemed incomprehensible right now… lead him home.

As his house eventually came into view though, and he stepped out onto the sidewalk, and he walked up the steps, and he stared at the familiar scratched paint of the front door, and finally, finally, walked in… He felt like he was still in that taxi.

* * *

Roxas sighed heavily as he rested his head in Sora's lap, dozing as he felt Sora's thumb lightly brushing over the mark he knew resided on his chest, just under that sensitive dip in his collar bone, trying to resist the lull to sleep and wait for Ven to return home.

Sora's blue, so very blue, eyes stared into his, pulling on him, holding him until he could feel his body falling into unwelcomed unconsciousness. With Sora there for him, holding him, he was torn. His body was making the decision for him ultimately, it seemed, Sora's eyes focused on his, consuming everything in his vision.

This wouldn't be a restful sleep, unfortunately, he could feel all of those unpleasant thoughts still lingering as his eyelids finally slid shut completely. Remembering the blood that had leaked from his brother's lips, worried over the stain it left on the floor, anxious over when Ven would get home, and terrified for the safety of Ven, himself, and, most of all, Sora.

Maybe Ven had it right the entire time, and they were cursed. In which case, all he can really hope is that he won't end up dragging Sora down with him.

* * *

Feeling the blonde's breathing even out, Sora felt easier about turning his attention back to the front door. At the end of the stairs, just behind of the very couch they were on, was a new stain that would serve as a reminder of what Ven no longer had any freedom over anymore.

Sora was pissed.

His feelings were never something that were to be trampled lightly, and this entire time they had been nothing but used and abused by all those around him, he was becoming impatient with it all. He could withstand a small amount of abuse, Vanitas was his brother after all, but there was only so much that he could stand for before he would really reach his breaking point. It was fast approaching, unfortunately.

With Roxas asleep, and not waking anytime soon, and Ven reaching the home soon, Sora would be left with his ideal situation for getting back at his brother. After all, his brother stole from him first, so getting some revenge was not completely out of the question. It took a lot of work to get a human to fall in such devoted love like that, to find their world in you, especially two of them, and twins… He had always preferred Roxas, wanted Roxas more, he would admit that much…

Roxas was just… Special.

Either way, just because he had been taking his time didn't mean that Vanitas could come in and break their deal like that. Seeing as how he realized that this at least meant he would not be needing to hand Roxas over to Vanitas in death though, and Vanitas being his brother, he had forgiven it. Now though, now he finds out that Vanitas is purposely putting the blonde in dangerous situations, and sure Karma would not have lead him to his death for only his first offense, but he was still that much closer to death for any other screw ups that may happen in the future.

Sora didn't like that. He may not care about the boy as much as Roxas, but he still didn't like the idea of Vanitas just so carelessly playing around with a human that he had, at one time, put so much effort into obtaining himself, only to fail… That sort of subtle control and manipulation kept for such a length of time… What a waste of effort in the end.

The door finally opened, the counterpart to the blonde in his lap stepping inside and staring at them in surprise. Sora just smirked slightly, nodding for him to come over. Ven shook his head slowly, locking the door behind him and turning off the outside light, he was just going to assume that Sora would stay the night. Walking towards the stairs, his eyes glazed over as they fell on the blood stain, his entire body hesitating for the moment…

"Sit down," Sora spoke at a normal volume, calm and welcoming, but Ventus was not expecting it. He jumped, looking over to him and then down to his brother in his lap in surprise, "Don't worry about him, I asked him to sleep long and soundly."

Ven still whispered, eyes betraying his confusion as he continued to just stand by the couch, making Sora frown and stare up at him as the blonde spoke, "He's not _that_ heavy of a sleeper, just because you asked…"

"It's because _I_ asked…" Sora was still smirking, making Ven look at him suspiciously, "Anyways, I wanted to talk with you, sit down."

"I'm tired," Ven whispered back immediately, frowning as he still hesitated to walk any closer to that blood stain, "I just want to go to bed."

"I'm sure, but you'll be glad you heard all this later."

Eyes not quite able to rest on that blood stain again, they roamed on the floor around the edges for a while longer before he was finally able to make up his mind. Moving to the couch, he sat at the far end, gently nudging his brother's feet aside, sure enough the other boy didn't so much as flinch in his sleep.

"You won't regret it," Sora grinned at him, making Ven sigh heavily, slightly disappointed, he mourned the loss of his love for Sora, to be honest. He wished for the times when he would swoon over the other man, get lose in his thoughts of him, feel something so easy and pure again instead of this… He didn't know what to even call what he felt for the other man anymore.

Betrayal? Anger? Hatred? So many emotions were just spinning around in his head, he couldn't tell which one he felt or which ones even applied to Sora. He didn't hate Sora, for reasons he didn't really understand, he just… was disappointed? There was anger, he felt that much for sure, but he did not hate. Just disappointed… In what? In Sora, himself? More like in the love he thought he had felt, in that it was gone, because now he couldn't just blindly look past any faults that Sora may have…

"So what are the terms?"

Ven snapped out of his thoughts in a daze, looking over to Sora in surprise, the brunette just staring at him expectantly, "Of the contract… What's the deal you guys came up with?"

He felt the red take over his face before he could help it, feeling shame, Sora had seen them that night so he definitely knew what was going on. It was a deal, he agreed to it, he _agreed_ to do it, "You know the deal."

"I haven't heard it from you though, which makes me wonder if Vanitas really explained it in full detail, or if you simply haven't realized the true power you have over him," Looking at him expectantly, Ven just stared back, lost because Sora made it sound like Ven had control in this situation somehow when he was rather sure he did not, "You know, you should really ask him about the terms of that contract, because he's required to tell you. From what I get so far: you do some 'favors' for him, and in exchange he makes your life easier… But how much easier?"

"I don't get what you mean? He keeps me from killing myself on stairs, yeah, what are you getting at?" Ven snapped a little bitterly, looking away from him to stare at the wall. He felt so uncomfortable, so nervous and tired and… He just kept thinking that he wanted to go home, and he kept reminding himself that this is home, he's here, now what?

"I'm just saying that I don't think that you realize that this contract was really open ended, he makes you more comfortable, but what exactly does that mean? Does he simply keep you alive? Or does he provide you with the lifestyle that befits a king? I would say comfortable really depends on you…" Their eyes meet, Sora's mischievous in the way they stare into his, and then he suddenly smirks and turns away, "I'm probably saying too much though, Vani would be pretty upset if I was getting involved in your business in anyway. He's the jealous type."

Looking at his twin, Ven frowned as he watched how absolutely peaceful and satisfied Roxas looked in his sleep. It wasn't natural, making what Sora said earlier click in his head. He _made_ Roxas sleep. Being reminded Sora was a demon as well was like a kick to the stomach since they had literally just had a conversation about this supernatural conflict and his demon brother, but it had only just fallen into place for Ven then. Then it was like another kick to the stomach as his mind immediately started double-checking every bit of conversation they had and just had.

"Why him?"

Sora looked at him in surprise, blinking slowly, just to flash a smug grin back at him in a moment, "Oh, are you the jealous type, too? Jealous of Roxie? Or me?"

Ven just ignored him, looking back up at the newly recognized demon suspiciously, "You chose him, right? It's not like you would just choose anyone… So why Roxas?"

He would admit that was satisfying some of his old jealousy as well, although his negative self-image of himself had certainly created more than enough answers for this question already, he wanted to hear it from the source. He wanted the truth, he wanted to know what brought Sora around in the first place, what started all of his heart-ache and pain. Most importantly, he wanted to know if there was anything he could do to turn them off of them. If they were doing something, somehow just keeping these two around without meaning to, and they just had to fix that…

It was probably too much to hope for.

Sora stared at him for a while, frowning, and as the seconds ticked on and no answer came, Ven realized he would not be receiving one. Shaking his head, he stood from the couch to look down at Sora, "Fine, don't tell me. Just know that if you do anything to hurt him…"

"As much as I would love to hear what you think would be a good enough threat for me, I have to stop you there. Roxas is perfectly safe with me, in fact I would say he's safer with me," Sora was serious, Ven realized that instantly, there was no stupid grin or tricky gleams in his eye. He looked him in the eye, his arms already wrapping around the boy protectively as Sora seemed to recite his part almost like a pledge.

Ven found that he could only nod in concession, accepting that as an acceptable answer. Heading around the couch to begin for the stairs, he hesitated as he saw the stain once more, having nearly forgotten about it by this point. He shook it off though, squeezing his eyes shut as he climbed a few steps slowly before moving more easily up the rest. He was safe, he knew he was, he held up his side to Vanitas.

As he reached the top of the stairs though and stared into his and Roxas' bedroom, he felt a twist in his stomach just like last night. He couldn't go back in there, he couldn't stand to be there again tonight, it was like walking into the nightmare instead of letting it come to him. He backed away from the door immediately, glancing down the stairs but instantly writing off the thought of seeing Sora again tonight, once was enough. Instead turning to look at the other doors in the hall, looking at his options for rest tonight.

Eyes resting on the bathroom uneasily. while it wasn't as tainted, it was also not somewhere comfortable to hide.

What was once his parent's bedroom, now empty and collecting dust… He could never sleep there.

The guest bedroom then.

He would stay in the guest bedroom, uncertain if he would ever feel right in returning to his own bed again.

* * *

The sun was beginning to rise by the time Sora left, frowning to himself and rubbing a stiff muscle in the back of his neck. He had spent the entire night sitting in the living room, hand brushing through Roxas' hair absentmindedly, staring into the darkness and simply _thinking_.

It wasn't a past time he particularly enjoyed, especially when it came to thinking about his own past, more particularly his past errors. He was a man of action, if something was going down and he didn't like it, then he did something about it, he didn't sit there formulating an argument or excuses. What was wrong was wrong, and he would fix it. It was simple, so very simple, to live this way.

Roxas was making it more complicated though.

He hadn't marked anyone since Kairi, and for good reason.

He couldn't just _not_ mark Roxas though. His involvement with an unmarked human would have… repercussions. Nothing like any laws or rules saying he couldn't simply hang out with the guy, but rather other demons might start noticing all the time he was spending with him, might get curious, might try and butt their way in. And there are laws against killing other demons just because they tried marking a human you particularly like, so putting his mark on Roxas would at least keep attention off him…

Well, some attention off him.

The mark had its own powers too, but he doubted that Roxas would notice them. A marked human usually would be stricken with an insatiable urge to stay by the side of the demon that marked them, but so far Roxas was simply acting normal, nothing remarkably out of the ordinary about his behavior. That was good, he didn't really want to change Roxas… but it was still kind of weird though.

Now that he thought about it, didn't Vanitas mark Ven as well? Probably to counteract how much Ven probably hates him. That seems to be working though, even if the contract is lessening the power of the mark, despite how much he must hate Vanitas, Ven still asked for him when he was hurt… Or at least, that's what he gathered from what Roxas told him, it seemed that he was asking Roxas to call Vanitas.

On a side note, maybe he should sneak Vanitas' number into Ven's phone, that should make things a little interesting.

So the mark seems to be working on Ven… why hasn't Roxas seemed to be affected by it? Maybe something's wrong with the mark? Maybe he didn't give it enough power? Well, it didn't matter in the end anyways, he supposed, since he didn't really want to change Roxas anyways…

* * *

Roxas jerked awake in the early morning, somewhere between 5 and 6 am, his eyes searching the living room from his position still on the couch. He noticed immediately that Sora was gone, and the sun was just beginning to rise outside, so he lazily stood from the furniture and began to drag himself upstairs.

Pushing open the door to his and Ven's room, he glanced over and frowned at the sight of his twin's empty bed. Was Ven still not back yet? Sora had said that he would be coming home last night, but he must still be in the hospital after all. He would visit him later, he didn't want to leave his brother alone in a hospital. Collapsing onto his own bed for now, he sighed heavily as it felt like weight was just dropped on him.

Feeling another sudden wave of exhaustion come over him, his legs and arms felt like rubber and he groaned at the nausea that crept up on him, he rolled on his back to keep the feeling of puke from trying to escape through his throat when his eyes suddenly locked on to the site of a ruby red star blinking in the sky just outside his window. Roxas felt his breath catch slightly upon the sight of it, a foreboding aura around it, but at the same time saw no reason to be afraid of a star… he was just curious as to what it was…

He soon lost concern for that though, his eyes blurring more and more as the persistent blinking continued. His mind becoming sluggish, his body feeling achy, he just watched it as it seemed to grow closer to him, before it finally, as suddenly as it appeared… fell.

And then he could only see her smile.


End file.
